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EARLY PHILADELPHIA 
ITS PEOPLE, LIFE AND PROGRESS 



THIS LIMITED EDITION HAS BEEN PRINTED 
FROM TYPE AND THE TYPE DISTRIBUTED 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 

ITS PEOPLE, LIFE AND PROGRESS 



BY 



HORACE MATHER LIPPINCOTT 

JOINT AUTHOR OF 
"the colonial homes of PHILADELPHIA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD" 



WITH A PHOTOGRAVURE FRONTISPIECE BY CHARLES H. STEPHENS 
AND 119 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRINTS 




PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

1917 



.3 



COPYRIGHT. 1917. BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER. 1917 



/ 



OCT 29.1317 



PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 

PHIJ,ADELPHIA. U.S.A. 



>CI.A477236 



FOREWORD 




HILADELPHIA owes its origin to 
religious persecution. It was under- 
taken as a " Holy Experiment," 
therefore an understanding of its 
building, its customs and its institu- 
tions necessarily requires that much 
^ be said about religion. Its first 
settlers were artisans rather than adventurers. Their reli- 
ance was industry and their watchword liberty. Such 
factors explain why many useful and great institutions 
originated in Philadelphia before similar ones developed 
elsewhere in the Colonies. The character and zeal of their 
founders were guarantees of their survival. 

Much must be said about the Quakers. The province 
was theirs and they controlled, for nearly one hundred 
years, down to the summer of 1776, its policy and legis- 
lation. They were a solid lot, slow but sure, and in any 
account of the early city obviously become the most con- 
spicuous of the diversified elements of the people. The 
other groups were for the first seventy years fewer in num- 
bers. Many of the settlers, the Germans and Scotch-Irish 
particularly, went oif into the wilderness of the frontier to 
live by themselves, leaving the Quakers in undisturbed 
control of politics. 

This book aims to bring together under one cover many 
fragmentary and scattered accounts of important and 
peculiar customs and institutions which live in Philadelphia 
to-day, serving as useful a purpose in the complexity of 
modern life as they did when they started. jSIost of them 
were original here, and though now perhaps less conspicu- 
ous than similar endeavours in other parts of the nation, 
they still retain a solidarity and dependableness that makes 



FOREWORD 



them as unique as when they were alone. A hirge part 
of the Quaker reserve of our forefathers remains in the 
old town and Philadelphians do not feel a necessity or a 
propriety in shouting about their importance or usefulness. 
After all, it is enough to just be it. 

The author acknowledges indebtedness for information 
from the many published records and histories of t)ie 
city and for the uniform courtesy and assistance of indi- 
viduals connected with the enterprises described. It has 
been very difficult with the great amount of material at 
hand to bring the record into a readable and convenient 
form, and on this account the indulgence of the reader for 
omissions is requested. 

Horace jNIather Lippincott 

Chestnut Hill 
July, 1917 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

THE FOUNDER 13 

THE EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 20 

THE STRANGER IN TOWN 50 

THE CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 58 

THE MARKET PLACE 78 

GOVERNMENT 95 

STAGE COACHES AND POST ROADS 102 

SQUARES AND PARKS 106 

THEATRES 113 

THE OLD TAVERNS 121 

THE LIBRARY COMPANY 129 

THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 135 

THE UNIVERSITY 146 

THE LAW ACADEMY 175 

THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 178 

THE PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS 184 

THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 189 

THE PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY 192 

THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE 195 

THE ATHEN^UM 197 

THE OLD SCHOOLS 200 

FOX HUNTING 211 

THE PHILADELPHIA SKATING CLUB AND HUMANE SOCIETY 217 

CRICKET 222 

THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA 227 

THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY FOR INSURANCES ON LIVES AND 

GRANTING ANNUITIES 234 

FIRE PROTECTION 239 

THE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA 256 

THE PHILADELPHIA SAVING FUND SOCIETY 263 

5 



CONTENTS 



TITLE INSURANCE AND SAFE DEPOSITS 267 

THE OLDEST BUSINESS HOUSE 268 

THE FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY 272 

SHIPS AND SHIPPING 275 

THE DANCING ASSEMBLY 278 

THE CITY TROOP 285 

THE WISTAR PARTIES 295 

THE PHILADELPHIA CLUB 300 

THE SCHUYLKILL FISHING COMPANY 303 

FRIENDS' ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE 309 

THE QUAKER ALMSHOUSE AND THE BETTERING HOUSE 311 

THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL 314 

THE PHILADELPHIA DISPENSARY 319 

THE ABOLITION SOCIETY 321 

EARLY DENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES 326 

THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY 331 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAQE 



The Picturesque Temporary Lodgings of Philadelphia's First 
Settlers while Their Houses Were Being Built .... Frontispiece "^ 

Penn's House on High Street 18' 

The Penn House in Fairmount Park To-day 18 '^ 

Philadelphia in 1702 %r 

Diagram of Philadelphia in 1702 22' 

The Drawbridge and Dock Creek 28 ^ 

The Slate Roof House 28"^ 

John Dunlap's House 30 '^ 

Carpenter's Mansion 30 "^ 

The Shippen House 30 ' 

Dwelling and Shop 32 

Coomb's Alley, now Cherry Street 32 

Bridge over Arch Street at Front 36' 

House of David Brientnall and Anthony Benezet 36 " 

Residence of James Wilson 38"^ 

The WilHng House 38^ 

Parson Duche's House 38^ 

Third Street from Spruce Street 39 "^ 

The Morris House 40^ 

Old Houses on King, now Water Street, near South 41' 

Workman's Court, 41 

High Street, West from Market, Showing Ceremony of Washing- 
ton's Funeral 42 

Charles Norris' House 46 

Robert Morris' Houses 46 

Clarke's Hall 46 

High Street East from Ninth Street 47 "^ 

Old Knockers, Franklin Street Lamp and Foot Scrapers 52 "^ 

Pine Street Meeting House 54 "" 

Sparks' Shot Tower 54^ 

"The Yellow Mansion, " or Dundas Lippincott House, 56 "^ 

7 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Friends' Meeting House in Centre Square where City Hall now 

Stands : 58 ' 

Thomas Fairraan's House and Penn Treaty Elm 58^ 

Friends' Meeting House, Merion 59 v 

Interior of Merion Meeting 59^ 

Friends' Meeting House at Fourth and Arch Streets 62"^ 

The First Christ Church 68" 

The Court House in High Street and Christ Church 68'' 

Christ Church 69 " 

St. Peter's Church 69 ' 

"Gloria Dei," Old Swedes' Church 72"- 

The First Presbyterian Church 72-^ 

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church 76 '^ 

Lutheran Church 77 ' 

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church 77 '' 

High Street, Prison, Stocks and Shambles 81*^ 

The Germantown Market Square 81"^ 

Second Street Market from Lombard Street 84' 

Second Street Market from Pine Street 84^ 

The Fish Market 85v 

Market Street from Front Street 85*^ 

Callowhill Street Market 88 

Washington Market, Bainbridge Street 88 

Spring Garden Street Market 88 

Friends' Meeting House and Court House 96 

The Bank Meeting 96 

The Court House and Markets at Second Street 96 

Back of the State House 97 

The State House from Sixth near Walnut Street 97 

Commissioners' Hall, District of Southwark 98' 

Commissioners' Hall, District of Moyamensing 98' 

Commissioners' Hall, District of Spring Garden 100 

Commissioners' Hall, District of Northern Liberties 100"^ 

8 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Conestoga Wagon 105 

An Early Type of Street Car 105 

Old Ironsides, 1832 105 

The First Water Works 107 

The Water Works in Centre Square 107 

State House Garden 108' 

Washington and Independence Squares 109 

Rittenhouse Square 109' 

Fairmount Water Works and Boat House Row 110' 

Gaol at Sixth and Walnut Streets 110 

The Wissahickon Creek at Valley Green Ill 

The Schuylkill River Drive from Girard Avenue Ill 

Southwark Theatre 116 

The Walnut Street Theatre 116 

Chestnut Street Theatre 117 

Second Chestnut Street Theatre 117 

The Penny Pot House UT 

Clark's Inn, Opposite the State House 122' 

The Cross Keys Inn 123 

The London Coffee House 123 

The Spread Eagle Inn 127^ 

The Black Horse Inn 127' 

The Philadelphia Library Company's First Home; The Univer- 
sity Medical School 133 "^ 

The American Philosophical Society's Building 144 '^ 

The Charity School, Academy and College 147 

College Hall on Ninth Street 147 

House Built for President Washington 171 

In the Museum Courtyard at the University 171 

Entrance to the Dormitory Triangle from the Big Quadrangle at 

the University 173 

First Building of the Academy of the Fine Arts 186 '^ 

Friends' Meeting House and Academy 201 

9 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Episcopal Academy 202 

Germantown Academy 202 

The Chester Valley Pack Arriving at the King of Prussia Inn 213 "^ 

The Radnor and Kirk Hounds on the White Horse Pike 213 ' 

Start of the Hunter's Scramble at the Rose Tree Hunt Club's 

Spring Meet 215 '' 

First Home of the Bank of North America 229-" 

The City Tavern and Bank of Pennsylvania 229 

Bank of the United States 232-^ 

Fire Mark of the Contributionship 242^ 

Fire Mark of the Mutual Assurance Company 242^ 

Garden of the Philadelphia Contributionship 242 • 

The "White Turtle" and the "Red Crab" Rushing to a Fire. . . 252^ 

First Home of the Insurance Company of North America 257*' 

The Saving Fund Society's First Home 264' 

Seventh and Walnut Streets before the Erection of the Saving 

Fund's Present Building 264"^ 

Building the Frigate "Philadelphia" at Humphrey's Yard 276"^ 

View of the City from the Treaty Elm 276^ 

Foot of Market Street 277 >^ 

Arch Street Wharf 277^ 

The Philadelphia Club 299^ 

St. Mary's Church, the Cadwalader House and the Wistar 

House 299' 

Friends' Almshouse 312" 

Friends' Almshouse, Walnut Street Front 312 '^ 

The Bettering House 313^ 

The Pennsylvania Hospital m Pine Street 315'' 

Hall of the Carpenters' Company 332 ^ 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 

ITS PEOPLE, LIFE AND PROGRESS 



THE FOUNDER 




HILADELPHIANS like to think 
of their city as "typically American," 
and indeed it has been so character- 
ized by many distinguished visitors. 
Certainly no American city has 
maintained more of its original char- 
acter, customs and institutions than 
that founded by William Penn. No city owes its origin 
more definitely to the genius of one man nor can any city 
find among its founders one of more capacity or person- 
ality. Simplicity, dignity and reserve are still the char- 
acteristics of Philadelphia, and something of the old 
Quaker directness, the robust candour not easily subdued, 
is still to be found here. There is still the decorum which 
prevents the jostling of her sister cities, which stills the 
cries of triumph amid the hustle for existence. Noise and 
excitement do not disturb her mental balance nor crowd 
out an appreciation of names and things still honoured. 
Her traditions and opinions of yesterday are maintained 
with a solidity of thought which recalls their lessons and 
builds slowly but surely with clear perspective and the 
saving grace of modesty. The beginnings of all this are 
laid so nearly to the personality of the Founder that it is 
well to touch briefly upon his fruitful life at the outset of 
this book. Indeed, no account of Philadelphia should omit 
a grateful tribute to this great man who seized the oppor- 
tunity of the Crown's debt to his father to carry out the 
great purpose of George Fox and the early Quakers to 
establish a refuge for them in the New World. The dis- 
cussion of their plans reached his ears at College and twenty 
years afterward he wrote: " I had an opening of joy as 
to these parts in the year 1661 at Oxford." 

13 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



William Penn, scholar and gentleman, politician and 
statesman, lover and jNIinister of Christ, was born October 
14, 1644, on Tower Hill, London, the son of Admiral Sir 
William Penn and the gentle Lady Penn, daughter of 
John Jasper, a merchant of Rotterdam. The Perms seem 
to have been of Welsh origin, sometime settled in the 
counties of Bucks and Wilts, England. They were well- 
to-do country gentry until Giles Penn, the grandfather 
of William, took to a seafaring life, which his son con- 
tinued, and became a Vice- Admiral of England at thirty- 
one. William Penn was born in troublous times for one 
who was destined to become a man of peace. He was, 
however, essentially a man of action, of unbounded energ\\ 
His portraits express great determination, a religious face 
but not that of the hard ecclesiastic or the sour Puritan. 
A gentle, s\Tnpathetic, heroic soul looks out from the eyes. 
A carving, which seems to be the most authentic likeness, 
shows him in later years to be of serene and cheerful coun- 
tenance, an evidence that he was fully sustained in his 
worst trials and anxieties by a courageous temperament. 

The Admiral was at sea when William was born and 
soon his mother took him from the little court close to 
the Tower of London and went to live in the pretty village 
of Wanstead, near Essex, where he passed his boyhood 
and went to school. The family were Royalists and Perm's 
close relations with King Charles and King James after- 
ward made him more so, but he imbibed principles of free 
govermiient and liberty in his early schooling at Wanstead, 
among the Puritans, which made liim liberal in his views 
as well. ^\Tien he was but eleven years old he had a re- 
ligious experience — ** He was suddenly surprised with an 
inward comfort; and, as he thought, an external glory in 
the room, which gave rise to religious emotions, during 
which he had tlie strongest conviction of the being of God, 

14 



THE FOUNDER 



and that the soul of man was capable of enjoying com- 
munication with Him. He believed also that the seal of 
divinity had been put upon him at this moment, or that he 
had been awakened or called upon to a holy life." This 
was of course before he had heard of George Fox or the 
Quaker message. 

In 1660 Penn was sent to Christ Church College, 
Oxford, as a part of his father's design toward preferment 
and a career. Oxford at this time of the Restoration was 
still under some Puritan influences, and Penn seems to 
have sympathized with these, to have engaged heartily 
in athletics and led a life of freedom in body and mind. 
To such a healthy, unbound soul the Quaker message was 
sure to appeal when he met it in the preaching of Thomas 
Loe, to whom he one day accidentally listened. We may 
pass over his troubles with his father and his college on this 
account, his sojourn in France and his first experience 
of persecution in the whipping he received at home. The 
journey to France, and to Italy, too, broadened and pol- 
ished him so that in after life he was a much more effective 
instrument in what he had to do. A considerable portion 
of his two years abroad had been spent under the guidance 
of Moses Amyrault, a professor of the Reformed French 
Church, in perfecting his theological studies. So we can 
see how he could correspond in Latin with Sewell the 
Quaker historian, read and speak Greek, French, German 
and Dutch, and add to his essays or pamphlets quotations 
from all the ancient and modern authors that he could find 
in support of his Theses. In his " Treatise on Oaths " 
there are over fifty opinions of some Greek or Roman 
philosopher, statesman or father of the Church. In " No 
Cross No Crown " there are over 130 of these instances 
from remote antiquity to men of his own day, so that we 
can judge of his intellectual equipment, diligence and 

15 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



patience. A large part of his enthusiasm came from his 
reading. He had a passion for the biographies of all who 
had achieved, learned from their experiences, and was 
inspired by the most progressive and philanthropic ideas 
that had been suggested in the whole course of written 
human history. He was intimate with the most dis- 
tinguished as well as the lowliest men of his time. His 
liberality was developed at the expense of many practical 
qualities and he was not a shrewd judge of the characters 
by whom he was surrounded in after life. Thus he often 
failed in carrying into practice the great ideas that came 
to him. He managed his colony well while living in it only, 
and was a careless business man. He was so far ahead 
of his time in everything and so vigorous and enthusiastic 
that he suffered many temporary defeats. He was a volu- 
minous writer, much of his work being done in prison. 
" No Cross No Crown," written in the Tower of London, 
was his greatest work and passed through several editions 
during his lifetime. We may pass his many trials for con- 
science's sake which are well known. He suffered imprison- 
ment many times, though often confounding the jurists 
when brought to trial and standing up manfully and ably 
for an Englishman's rights upon all occasions. His was no 
meek submission to wrong but a vigorous leadership against 
all injustice. TJie whole of his life indicates the power of his 
personality. He showed his force when he went to jail 
for a matter of conscience and declared, " ]My prison shall 
be my grave before I will budge one jot, for I owe obedi- 
ence of conscience to no mortal man;" and in the crisis 
with Lord Baltimore when he says, " Can my wicked 
enemies yet bow? They shall, or break, or be broken in 
pieces before a year from this time comes about, and my 
true friends rejoice,*' and in another emergency, " If leni- 
tives will not do, coercives must be tried." While under 

16 



THE FOUNDER 



arrest in the Tower of London he said to Sir John Robin- 
son, Lord Lieutenant of the Tower: " I would have thee 
and all men know I scorn that religion which is not worth 
suffering for, and which is not able to sustain those who 
are afflicted for it. Mine is; and whatever be my lot, I 
am resigned to the will of God. Thy religion persecutes, 
mine forgives, and I desire that God may forgive you all 
that are concerned in my commitment. I leave you, wish- 
ing you everlasting salvation." 

In the plans of government which he expressed are 
best exemplified his advanced ideas, many of them the 
best of to-day. Freedom and toleration of every kind are 
the rule; indeed he says, " There is hardly one frame of 
government in the world so ill designed by its founders, 
that in good hands would not do well enough," and " any 
government is free to the people under it (whatever be the 
frame) where the laws rule and the people are a party to 
those laws." He proposed to the Lords of Trade a plan 
of union or general government for the Colonies in Amer- 
ica which is remarkable because it foreshadows the pro- 
visions of our national constitution. 

He travelled in Holland and Germany as well as 
Pennsylvania, preaching and making many converts. Too 
little has been said of the human part of Penn's nature and 
of the lovely lady who must have been the sweet inspira- 
tion of his life. It was when he was twenty-seven years 
old that this tenderness fortunately came into his life to 
soften a spirit so beset by religious controversy, preaching, 
trials and imprisonments. " Gulie," or Gulielma JMaria 
Springett, was the daughter of a gallant young Puritan 
officer whose widow married Isaac Penington. They lived 
at Chalf ont in Buckinghamshire and were people of means. 
Quakerism brought them persecution, and it was in 1668, 
after their sufferings had begun, that Penn first knew 
a 17 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



them. Thomas Ellwood, INIilton's friend, lived with them, 
and tells us that GuHe was " completely comely " and that 
the endowments of her mind " were every way extraordi- 
nary." In 1672 they were married and settled down at 
Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. " Their honeymoon 
lasted long; the spring and summer came and went, but 
Penn still remained with his j^oung and lovely wife at 
Rickmansworth; neither the flatteries of friends nor the 
attacks of foes could draw him away from his charming 
seclusion." One of the best things Penn has written is his 
letter to his wife and children. To her he says: "Remem- 
ber thou wast the love of my youth, and much the joy of 
my life — ^the most beloved as well as the most worthy 
of all my earthly comforts; and the reason of that love 
was more thy inward than thy outward excellencies, which 
yet were many. God knowest and thou knowest I can 
say it was a match of His making; and God's image in us 
both was the first thing and the most amiable and engaging 
ornament in our eyes." 

His " Fruits of Solitude " is a collection of 850 maxims 
which are the result of his experience in life and his con- 
templation of it in retirement. They contain many excel- 
lent truths and he summarizes the religion of the Quakers 
in the maxim, " The less form in religion the better, since 
God is a spirit." 

We may pass over his trusteeship of Xew Jersey and 
Proprietorship of Pennsylvania which are so well known. 
Within a few years he has been proclaimed in Parliament 
as the greatest Colonial Governor England has ever had — 
a real tribute from a nation which governs one-fifth of 
the civilized world. The modern advertiser maj'^ well turn 
for example to his descriptions of tlie Province aimed to 
attract settlers of industry and worth rather than the Cava- 
liers of the southern colonies. 

18 




PENN'S HOUSE, ON HIGH BETWEEN FRONT AND SECOND STREETS 
AFTERWARDS ON LAETITIA STREET 

Built prior to August, 168-2 




THE PENN HOUSE IN FAIRMOUNT PARK TO-DAY 



THE FOUNDER 



The most valuable contribution to our present condi- 
tions which this many-sided man has given us is his " An 
Essay towards the Present Peace of Europe " which seems 
almost prophetic. In it he states the blessings and reason- 
ableness of peace, the horrors and destruction of war and 
advocates a system of arbitration or general government to 
settle all the disputes of the European nations and prevent 
war. He proposed a limited States of Europe, with a diet 
or general council, to which each state should send its 
representatives; and he even suggested the number each 
nation should send. When a nation broke the laws or 
refused to submit to the diet the others should combine in a 
police duty to enforce their mandates. This essay is a 
truly remarkable document so clearly does it ring down 
through the centuries. His treatment of the Indians is 
well known and was founded upon kindness and justice 
out of which, he said, could never come strife. It was the 
love of God which George Fox said took away the occa- 
sion for all wars. 

His wife's death was a great trial to him and he was 
beset with troubles in business and in his Province. His 
children who survived were by his second wife, Hannah 
Callowhill, and were a disappointment to him. But with 
all the trials, mental and physical, which came to him in 
his busy life, his spirit was resolute and vigorous until 
near the end. About six years before his death his health 
declined and his mind weakened, but he lived in tenderness 
and peace. He died at the age of seventy-four, on the 30th 
of July, 1718, and is buried with his family at Jordan's 
Meeting House, near Chalfont St. Giles, England. We 
may fittingly close with his own saying so typical of his 
character — " I know of no religion which destroys courtesy, 
civility and kindness." 



THE EARLY SETTLERS AND 
THEIR CITY 




HE Province of Pennsylvania dif- 
fered from the other Colonies in 
America in that no other had such 
a mixture of languages, national- 
ities and religions. It differed also 
through the wise plan of its founder 
in the character of its settlers, who 
were men of varied capacity and industry. They were 
free from mediaeval dogmas and far advanced in the line of 
the Reformation, particularly the first settlers and earliest 
purchasers. These were nearly all Quakers who were the 
most advanced sect, and the effect of their liberalism on the 
growth of Pennsylvania was marked. The Quakers were 
well-to-do people at home who had sold their property in 
England and sought refuge in America to escape severe 
persecution. They had servants and were well supplied 
with clothing, and there was no such cry of distress from 
Penn's colonists as was heard from Plymouth and James- 
town after their first winters. These early settlers were 
not gathered by the force of material or temporary induce- 
ments or the desire for physical betterment, but for re- 
ligious liberty. They were radicals and revolutionists in 
thought but they did not resist authority and were bound 
by rules of conduct. They were not militant and suffered 
rather than resist or disturb law and order, believing in the 
final supremacy of moral and intellectual forces. Peaceful, 
careful, thrifty and dependable, they and their colony soon 
grew wealthy. 

Their positions in the community at home were those 
of rugged yeomen of the English democracy, tradesmen 
and artisans, with few gentry or University men, although 

20 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

the Welsh Quakers had pedigi'ees dating back to Adam 
and brought them along. In seventeenth century England, 
from whence they came, there were few families where 
learning was esteemed. In his account of the country 
gentry Burnett writes: " They are the worst instructed 
and least knowing of any of their rank I ever went 
amongst." At the universities men were taught merely 
to despise all who had forsaken the church, and he found 
the dissenters alone well taught. Macaulay says: *' Few 
knights of the shire had libraries so good as may now per- 
petually be found in the servants' hall, or in the back par- 
lour of a small shopkeeper. As to the lady of the manor 
and her daughters, their literary stores generally consisted 
of a prayer book and a receipt book. During the latter 
part of the seventeenth century the cultm-e of the female 
mind seems to have been almost entirely neglected. Ladies 
highly born and highly bred were unable to write a line 
in their mother tongue without solecisms and faults of 
spelling such as a charity girl would now be ashamed to 
commit." Swift, writing a letter to a young lady lately 
married, takes it for granted that she cannot read aloud or 
spell. This being the condition of culture in the mother 
country we can easily believe from what the early settlers 
in Pennsjdvania did and what they wrote that many of 
them were well bred and above the average culture. They 
were without advantages for the education of their children 
and, in a wilderness three thousand miles from home and 
help, had to win the battle for existence before they could 
give much time and attention to the arts that cultivate and 
refine. 

Nevertheless they laid out the city and built their houses 
with taste and skill. Fifteen thousand came between 1681 
and 1700 at an average of 70 shillings per head, which 

21 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



amounts to 50,000 pounds they must have paid. Their 
purchases cost them 25,000 pounds more and as has been 
said they brought much useful material with them. 

Penn went about the colonization of his province in a 
business-like way and with great advertising skill. He 
issued a series of immigration pamphlets in the interest of 
his project with a scrupulous regard for true statements 
and simple facts without exaggeration. He described the 
plentif ulness of timber, game and commodities and granted 
all legislative power to the people and government. No 
law was to be made or money raised but by the people's 
consent. To buyers he offered 5000 acres free from any 
Indian encumbrance for 100 pounds and a shilling per 
annum quit rent for every 100 acres. To renters he offered 
land at the rate of one penny per acre not exceeding 200 
acres and to serv^ants he gave 50 acres to the master for 
every head and 50 acres to the servant at the expiration 
of his time of indenture. 

The serv^ants generally came over on separate ships but 
appear in many cases to have been of the same social rank 
as the masters, being bound to work for them for a few 
years or until the money advanced them for their passage 
had been repaid. 

Penn appeals to " Industrious Husbandmen and Day 
Labourers, Laborious Handicrafts, especially Carpen- 
ters, Masons, Smiths, Weavers, Taylors, Tanners, Shoe- 
makers, Shipwrights, etc. Ingenious Spirits that being 
low in the world, are much clogg'd and oppressed about a 
Livelihood, for the means of subsisting being easie there, 
they may have tlie time and opportunity to gratify their 
inclinations, and thereby improve science and help nurseries 
of people, younger brothers of small Inheritances and men 
of Universal Spirits that have an eye to the Good of Pos- 

ii 



KEY TO Il.I.UHiTRATIOX OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1702 

1 Swedes' Clmicli. nrij;iii;ill\ liuilt ill Uk' -21 Friiiul.s" Public Seliuol 
year KiflT '^.5 Benezet House 

2 Old Horse Mill, Chrisliim St.. hdnw '2(i Diuk l\mi]. llh and Market Sis. 

Front St. -"i Hai)tist and rirsliylciian Meetinj,' 

3 Pont House, framed ami llnalrd fnini llnuse. -iiid and Chestnut 

Chester, lOS-2 '-'S l'ri<iids" Meetiufr. 'ind and Market 

■I- Sven S\vener"s House, Swaiisou and -2i> Laetitia Court House 

Beck St.. Ui.y.i .in '1'. Masters" House 

;* Duck Pond and Indian Huts. ;3rd and ^1 Loiuion CoHVe House, built 17(t-2 

Pine Sts. -i^i Crooked Billet Tavern 

(i Loxley's Hou.se, ^ud and Little Dock 33 'I'hoinas Masters" House 

7 Presi.lent Barhadoes Cos. Hou.se .'54 Market Shambles and Flaj,' SlaH" 

8 Edward Shippeu's House 3.'i Patrick Bobinsou's (used as a Pri-son) 

9 Creek and Drawbridfje .'i(i Christ Chunli. bnilt Id!*.". 

10 Mouth of Dock Creek .'57 Jones" l{ow. buill Kllllt 

11 Betheseba's Bnwvr .'iS 'I'honuis Masters" House 17(1-2 

12 Bakery .5!) Turner's Famous House 

13 Blue Anchor Tavern, KJS-i 40 Arch Street and Areli 

14 John Austins House, Ui!S4 41 Samuel Carpenter's Hou.se 
1.5 Vannosl l?loek and Pump Yard 42 Friends' Bank Meeting 

IG Bakery 43 Penny Pol House. Vine or Valley 
17 Mrs. Jones' Tavern. si^;n of the :i Street 

Crowns 44 Pejig's Hun. sui)poM'd outlet for 

15 Budd"s K..W. built l(iS2-3 Schuylkill 

1!» ( arp.ntci's Wan'li()U>c b". Pe-Ifi's Hon-.c and ( iniinids 

20 Car|)cnter■.^ ib)U.se, Brewery and Hi (iovernor"... Mill 

Bakery 47 ( iunncrs Uanibn's Hnn and Mr>. Kin- 

21 Mrs. Claypolc"- House xy'^llousr 

22 Old Slatr oi- (,..\. i'ciiirs li.ius... -Jnd is Swcilish Srt tl.Mu.'nt 

and Norris Alley 40 Fairniau"s Mansion ,ind Treaty Tree 

23 Andrew Uoe's Stone House .'JO Floalinj,' Windmill 










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j>i £• 












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■6,V 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

terity, and that both understand and delight to promote 
good Discipline and Just Government among a plain and 
well intending people." 

It is plain to be seen what a sensible man Penn was 
and how earnestly he hoped for the success of his " Holy 
Experiment " without great material gain for himself. He 
describes what to take on the journey, its cost and what 
is first to be done on arrival. This was serious business, a 
journey in a little boat for two months on a great sea to 
an almost unknown wilderness, and they must not delude 
themselves with an expectation of " An Immediate Amend- 
ment of their Conditions." Indeed, he says, they must be 
willing to do without conveniences for two or three years. 
The passage money was six pounds a head for masters, 
five for servants and fifty shillings for children under seven 
years. Live stock can be purchased there at easy rates. 
Finally he exhorts all to have an eye above all things to the 
providence of God in the disposal of themselves and not 
to move rashly or from a fickle mind. " In all which I 
beseech Almighty God to direct us, that his blessing may 
attend our honest endeavour, and then the Consequence 
of all our undertaking will turn to the Glory of his great 
Name, and the true happiness of us and our Posterity." 

Travelling between London and Bristol during the next 
three months Penn disposed of 300,000 acres of unlocated 
land in the new province to about 250 persons who were 
known as the first purchasers and were well-to-do Quakers 
of northern England, about two-thirds equally divided 
between London and Bristol. In October, 1681, he sent 
over three commissioners to help Governor Markham, ar- 
rived in June, organize the colony, lay out grants and settle 
iipon the capital city. With these went the advance guards 
of immigrants, one from London in the ship John and the 

23 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



other from Bristol in the Factor. In March, 1682, the 
Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania was incorporated, 
and in the following month the Surveyor General, Thomas 
Holme, sailed and the frame of government was drawn up. 
By the time Penn sailed in August, 1682, 600,000 acres 
had been sold and in the list of first purchasers published 
in London in that year by the Committee of the Free 
Society of Traders there are some 600 names, a few of 
which still survive among us. Most Philadelphians will 
recognize an ancestor in a list containing the names of 
More, Harrison, Knight, Flower, Baker, Taylor, Allen, 
Bond, Pickering, Jones, Bowman, Fisher, Turner, Holme, 
Davis, Chambers, Fox, Sharpless, Rowland, Ellis, Alsop, 
Barkla\% Criscrin, ]\Iartindale, Palmer, Carpenter, ]Mat- 
lock, Thomas, Powell, Parsons, Griscom, Barnes, Lehman, 
Noble, Gibson, Fell, Harding, Scott, Dickson, Paschall, 
Sheppard, Russell, Harris, INIitchell, Dickinson, Cross, 
Clark, Guest, Buckley, Lj^esly, Kinsey, Hayward, Kent, 
Green, Loyd, Pierce, West, Welsh, AVhite, Morris, Potter, 
Pusej^ Jeffries, Geery, Austin, Hicks, Cope, Bacon, Jen- 
kins, Hart, Phillips, Roberts, Warner, Nixon, Keith, Car- 
ter, Coats, Bailey, Saundres, Townsend, Andrews, Evans, 
Wain, Pritchard, Collins, Rogers, JNIason, AVood, Price, 
Spencer, INIurrey, Hill, Child, Miles, Stephens, JNIarshall, 
Hunt, Richards, Brock, Haines, Howell and Johnson. 

The earliest immigrants arrived before Philadelphia 
was survej^ed and did not know where it was. They 
stopped at Upland, now Chester, which was peopled by 
the Swedes and some English Quakers from Jersey. Phila- 
delphia was located in 1682, "having a high and dry bank 
next to the water, with a shore ornamented with a fine view 
of pine trees growing upon it." In this bank they made 
caves to shelter their families and belongings and then went 

24 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

out into the wilderness with a warrant of survey to choose 
their land. 

There was a steady stream of immigration during the 
first year, and more than thirty ships and several thousand 
settlers arrived. Penn's letter to the Society of Traders 
in 1683 describes his own observations in his dominion 
which seem to have been keen since few details are over- 
looked. Here is part of it: 

A Letter from William Penn, Proprietary and Governour of 
Pennsylvania in America, to the Committee of the Free Society 
of Traders of that Province, Residing in London. Containing a 
General Description of the said Province it's Soil, Air, Water, 
Seasons and Produce both Natural and Artificial. 

The Natural Produce of the Country, of Vegetables, is Trees, 
Fruits, Plants, Flowers. The Trees of most Note, are the Black 
Walnut, Cedar, Cyprus, Chestnut, Poplar, Gumwood, Hickery, 
Sassafras, Ash, Beech, and Oak of divers Sorts, as Red, White, 
and Black; Spanish Chestnut and Swamp, the most Durable of 
all. Of All which, there is Plenty for the Use of Man. The 
Finiits that I find in the Woods, are the White and Black Mul- 
berry, Chestnut, Wallnut, Plumbs, Strawberries, Cranberries, 
Hurtleberries, and Grapes of divers Sorts. The Great Red Grape 
(now Ripe) called by Ignorance, The Fox Grape, (because of 
the Relish it hath with unskilful Palates) is in it self an Extraordi- 
nary Grape and by Art, doubtless may be Cultivated to an Excel- 
lent Wine, if not so Sweet, yet little inferior to the Frontiniack, 
as it is not much unlike in Taste, Ruddiness set aside, which in such 
Things, as well as Mankind, differs the Case much ; There is a 
White Kind of Muskadel, and a Little Black Grape, like the Clus- 
ter Grape of England, not yet so Ripe as the other; but they 
tell me, when Ripe Sweeter and that they only want Skilful 
Vinerons to make good Use of them; I intend to venture on it 
with my Frenchman this Season, who shews some Knowledge in 
those Things. Here are Also, Peaches and very Good, and in 
Great Quantities, not an Indian Plantation without them; but 
whether Naturally here at first, I know not, however one may have 
they by Bushels for little; they make a Pleasant Drink, and 

25 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



I think not inferiour to any Peach you have in England, except 
the True Newington. Tis disputable with me, whether it be 
Best to fall to Fining the Fruits of the Country, especially the 
Grape, by the Care and SkiU of Art, or send for Foreign Stems 
and sets, already Good and approved. It seems most Reasonable 
to believe, that not only a Thing groweth Best, where it naturally 
grows; but will hardly be equalled by another Species of the same 
kind, that doth not naturally grow there. But to solve the 
Doubt, I intend, if God give me Life, to try Both, and hope the 
Consequence will be as Good Wine, as any European Countries, of 
the same Latitude, do yield. 

The Artificial Produce of the Country, is Wheat, Barley, Oats, 
Rye, Pease, Beans, Squashes, Pumpkins, Water-Melons, Mush- 
Melons, and all Herbs and Roots that our Gardens in England 
usually bring forth. 

Of Living Creatures ; Fish, Fowl, and the Beasts of the Woods, 
here are divers Sorts, some for Food and Profit, and some for 
Profit only ; For Food, as well as Profit, the Elk, as big as a small 
Ox, Deer bigger than ours, Beaver, Racoon, Rabbits, Squirrels, 
and some eat Young Bear and commend it. Of Fowl of the Land, 
there is the Turkey, (Forty and Fifty Pound Weight) which is 
very great; Pheasants, Heath-Birds, Pigeons, and Partridges in 
Abundance Of the Water, the Swan, Goose, White and Gray: 
Brands, Ducks, Teal, also the Snipe and Curloe, and that in Great 
Numbers ; but the Duck and Teal excel, nor so Good have I ever 
eat in other Countries. Of Fish, there is the Sturgeon, Herring, 
Rock, Shad, Catshead, Sheepshead, Eel, Smelt, Pearch, Roach ; 
and in Inland Rivers, Trout, some say, Salmon, above the Falls. 
Of Shell Fish, we have Oysters, Crabs, Cockles, Conchs, and 
Muscles ; some Oysters six inches long ; and one sort of Cockles 
as big as the Stewing Oysters, they make a Rich Broth. The 
Creatures for Profit only, by Skin or Fur, and that are Natural 
to these Parts, are the Wild Cat, Panther, Otter, Wolf, Fox 
Fisher, Minx, Musk-Rat: And, of the Water, the Whale for 
Oil, of which we have good Store, and Two Companies of Whalers 
whose Boats are Built, will soon begin their work, which hath the 
Appearance of a Considerable Imprivcment. To say nothing of 
our Reasonable Hopes of Good Cod in the Bay. 

26 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

He described the looks, character, language, customs, 
government and religion of the Indians and says he has 
learned their language. The settlers have had, he says, two 
General Assemblies which sat only three weeks and passed 
seventy laws without a dissent. Courts and officers are 
established and there are three peace-makers chosen by 
every court to arbitrate differences and prevent lawsuits 
among the 4000 settlers. Philadelphia was laid out on a 
strip of land a mile wide from the Delaware to the Schuyl- 
kill rivers and advanced within a year to four score houses 
and cottages. The office of the Free Society of Traders 
was on the west side of Front Street near the south side 
of Dock Creek at the foot of " Society Hill," so named 
from the location of the Company's headquarters. A 
Front Street along each river bank was planned, a High 
Street (now Market) near the middle from river to river 
one hundred feet broad and a Broad Street in the middle 
of the city from side to side of like breadth. In the centre 
of the city a square of ten acres was to provide at each 
angle for the houses of public affairs such as a Meeting 
House, Assembly or State House, a Market House and a 
School House. In addition the squares in each quarter of 
the city were provided for and to contain eight acres each. 
Eight streets were to run from Front to Front and twenty 
besides Broad Street from side to side, all fifty feet wide. 
In laying out the lots, says Penn, each purchaser " hath 
room enough for a House, Garden and small Orchard, to 
the great Content and Satisfaction of all here concerned." 

Upon his return to England in 1685 he wrote a fur- 
ther description of the Province, telling of the divers col- 
lection of European nations represented there. French, 
Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Scotch, Irish, 
English " and of the last equal to all the rest." There 

27 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



are now 357 houses, mostly large, well built with cellars, 
three stories and some with balconies. The tradesmen 
consist of carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, masons, plas- 
terers, plumbers, smiths, glasiers, taylors, shoemakers, 
butchers, bakers, brewers, glovers, tanners, felmongers, 
wheelrights, millwrights, shipwrights, boatrights, rope- 
makers, saylmakers, blockmakers, turners, etc. There are 
two markets every week and two fairs every year. There 
are seven Ordinaries ( Taverns ) and good meal can be had 
for sixpence. The hours for work and meals are " fixt 
and known by Ring of Bell." Some vessels and many 
boats have been built, manj^ " Brickerys," good cheap brick 
and " many brave Brick Houses " going up. These enthu- 
siastic accounts left us b}'^ the Founder are records of a 
truly remarkable development and are the best evidence 
of the early state of Philadelphia. 

Pastorius says he was often lost in the woods and brush 
in going from his cave along the river's bank to the house 
of the Dutch baker Bom at the southeast corner of Third 
and Chestnut Streets where he procured his bread. Soon, 
however, the forest was all felled except a cluster of black 
walnut trees which stood until 1818 on Chestnut Street 
opposite the State House. The hills were reduced and the 
miry places filled. The greater part of the houses were 
south of High Street and north of Dock Creek, which was 
swampy. At the mouth of the creek there was a ferry at 
the Blue Anchor Inn for conveying passengers to the 
opposite bank called " Society Hill," where the Society of 
Traders had their office. Here was the public landing 
and afterwards a drawbridge which allowed ships to come 
up as far as Second Street. Dock Creek traversed a " deep 
valley " to Fourth and High Streets and on the northern 
side of High west of Fourtli it formed a great pond, 

28 




I Hi; DRAWBRIDGE AND DOCK CREEK 




THE SLATE ROOF HOUSE, SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SECOND STREET 
AND NORRIS ALLEY 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

famous for its wild ducks and spatterdocks and surrounded 
with natural shrubbery. The Indians called the creek 
Coocanocon, but the first landing at its mouth, the boat- 
yards, tanneries and lumber landing places soon gave it 
another name. 

Just above the northern boundary of the little town 
was Pegg's run, now Willow Street, named by the Indians 
Conoqinoque and later after Daniel Pegg who owned much 
land in that section. At Tenth and Vine Streets it sepa- 
rated into two streams running farther westward. There 
was another duck pond in the rear of Christ Church on 
Second Street and another near Fifth and Locust Streets 
at the beginning of a stream which ran into Dock Creek 
at Girard's Bank. For urchins who got over the great 
Dock Creek there was plenty of game, fruit, berries and 
nuts in the woods opposite. George Warner landed in 
1726 and on account of the smallpox came ashore at the 
Swedes' Church " far below the great towne." He stopped 
at the Blue House Tavern at the southwest corner of what 
is now Ninth and South Streets, near a great pond, and 
they saw nothing in all their route there but swamps 
and lofty forests and wild game. Removing to the Blue 
Anchor at the drawbridge on Dock Creek he saw not one 
house. 

There was a good-sized pond at Eighth and Arch 
Streets, another nearby toward Seventh, one at Race and 
Branch and one at Fifth and High, now Market Street. 

Gabriel Thomas tells us that in 1698 there were 2000 
houses, stately and of brick generally three stories high 
*' after the Mode in London." There were many lanes 
and alleys from Front to Second Streets, abundance of 
produce, excellent climate and good wages for " Trades 
Men " of whom there are many of every sort. The maid 

29 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



servants' wages, he says, are six to ten pounds per annum 
and " of Lawyers and Physicians I shall say nothing, be- 
cause this country is very Peaceable and Healty." By 
this time there is a " Noble Town House or Guild Hall, a 
Handsome Market House and a Convenient Prison." 
Also Warehouses, Malt and Brew Houses, Bake Houses 
for Public Use, several good Schools and " no beggars or 
old maids." Paper and linen are made in Germantown 
and the people are mostly Lutherans, Church of England, 
Presbyterians, Baptists and Quakers. Thomas thinks that 
of the many gardens surrounding the houses that of 
Edward Shippen who lived in the " Great House " in 
Second Street north of Spruce, excels in size and quality. 

Edward Shippen was a Yorkshireman and a Mayor 
of the city. He was a wealthy merchant, speaker of the 
Assembly, provincial councillor and chief justice. His 
house, " on the hill near the towne," surpassed his contem- 
poraries in style and grandeur and was surrounded by a 
" great and famous orchard." The lawn before the house 
descended to Dock Creek and was the grazing place for a 
herd of " tranquil deer." Penn stopped with him on his 
arrival in 1699 for his second visit. 

On the square running from Front to Second and 
fronting on High was the large lot and house built for the 
Proprietor before his first coming, afterwards on Letitia 
Street, named for his daughter. It has been moved and 
is now attractively set in Fairmount Park at the western 
end of the Girard Avenue bridge and must present much 
the same appearance as it did when Penn resided in it. 

William Frampton lived on the west side of Front 
Street between Walnut and Spruce. He had extensive 
land in the rear on Second Street by the south side of 
Dock Creek and on it was his brew house, bake house and 

so 




JOHN DUNLAP'S HOUSE AT TWELFTH AND 
CHESTNUT STREETS 




CARPENTERS MANSION IN CHESTNUT STREET BETWEEN 
SIXTH AND SEVENTH STREETS 




THE SHIPPEN HOUSE, SECOND STREET NORTH ()t^ 
SPRUCE STREET 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

an early residence rented as an inn. He probably had 
the greatest stock of merchandise of any in the city and 
owned one of the first three wharves. 

Samuel Carpenter had the first " Coffee House " in the 
neighborhood of Front and Walnut Streets. He also had 
a crane, bake house and wharf. The only public landings 
were at Dock Street, north of the drawbridge, at the 
" Penny Pot House," north side of Vine Street and at a 
great breach through the high bank of the river at Mul- 
berry Street, which afterward became known as Arch 
Street because of the arched bridge for Front Street over 
this breach in the hill. 

Penn's design was to have a promenade on the high 
bank of the river front the whole length of the city, intend- 
ing Front Street to have an uninterrupted view of the 
Delaware River scenery. Had it not been for the trickery 
and deceit of some of the people during his absence this 
wonderful plan would have given us the most beautiful 
city in America. 

Front Street was the principal street of the city for a 
long time, first as a residence street when all the houses 
were built on the western side, and afterwards as a place of 
trade. On the arrival of ships from England in spring 
and autumn, all along Front Street from Arch to Walnut, 
the pavements were covered with boxes and bales from the 
mother country. On King Street, now Water, separated 
from Front by a wall and an iron railing, were the ware- 
houses and stores of the old-time merchants. Here were 
the India stores of Robert Morris and Thomas Willing 
and here Jacob Ridgway, John Welsh, Thomas P. Cope, 
Robert Ralston, Charles Massey, Manuel Eyre, Henry 
Pratt, Stephen Girard, the Wains, Whartons, Lewises, 
Llollingsworths and many others engaged in trade with 

31 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



South America, the Indies, China, and European cities, 
and built up great fortunes. 

The wells were generally public and in the street and 
there were few pumps in the early days. Both seem to 
have been the subject of much complaint. In 174(4 there 
was a well to every house and several in the streets with a 
" pump of excellent water every fifty paces." 

The only pavement was near the Court House at 
Second and High Streets and the then short market house 
extending westward about half a square. Extensive build- 
ing began first on " Society Hill " and particularly on the 
west side of Front Street with grounds extending to 
Second. 

The earliest pavement was a narrow f ootwalk of bricks 
filled in on each side with gravel or the whole with gravel 
only. The rest of the street was very bad until the large 
pebbles or cobbles came and that was not much better. 

The first street to be paved was Second from High to 
Chestnut because one of the Whartons on horseback was 
mired there, thrown from his horse and broke his leg. After 
that a subscription was taken up and the street paved. His 
experience was somewhat similar to that of one of the 
Johnsons in Germantown who had to saddle his horse after 
a rain in order to cross the jNIain Street. Tales are told of 
how gallants, including the doughty Washington, had to 
carry ladies from their coaches to the entrances of houses. 
One Purdon, a British soldier on duty in Philadelphia, 
had charge of the first paving and was so useful that he 
was released from the army to serve the community in a 
better way. There was very little general effort to have 
the middle of the streets paved until 1761 and then only in 
a desultory way through money derived from lotteries. 
In 17H2 the city was levelled and many graceful undula- 

32 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

tions destroyed. The State House at that time stood upon 
a little eminence about four feet higher than the surround- 
ing streets which were unfortunately filled in. The side- 
walks were protected from the traffic of the streets with 
posts and it was not until 1786 that the first curbstones 
were introduced on Water Street from High to Arch. The 
biggest pebbles were always placed in the middle of the 
street, when the gutters were not there, and so the roughest 
riding was where it should have been easiest. There were 
a dozen bridges in the little town and six of them crossed 
Dock Creek. 

In 1751 the Grand Jury expressed the need for watch- 
men and paved streets and the next year an act was passed 
providing for a night watch and for " enlightening the 
city " which had hitherto been illuminated only by private 
lamps. The guardians of the city were first citizens who 
served for a period by necessity. They went around every 
night before going to rest to see that all was well, and such 
men as Joseph Shippen, Abram Carpenter, George Clay- 
poole and Henry Preston were in 1706 fined " for neglect 
to serve as constables." It was a time of small beginnings 
and of mutual responsibility. 

Highway robberies were of such frequent occurrence 
that the citizens were compelled at last, with the approval 
of the Supreme Executive Council, to organize themselves 
into patrols for the protection of property and persons 
passing through the streets at night. Says a city news- 
paper as late as 1787 after the mitigation of penalties which 
the new penal code provided : 

" On Tuesday night between twelve and one o'clock, 
as William Hamilton, Esq., and Miss Hamilton, his neice, 
were returning from the city to Bush Hill, they were 
attacked in the neighbourhood of Twelfth and Market 



KAllLY PHILADELPHIA 



Streets by six or eight footpads, who formed a line across 
the road and called violently to the postilions to stop. This 
not being complied with, one of the villains fired a pistol, 
and another a blunderbuss. One of the postilions being 
stunned l)y a ball, which struck his cap, for a moment 
occasioned the stopping of the carriage, and the whole band 
immediately closed round to seize their prey. ]Mr. Hamil- 
ton, putting his head out of one of the windows, called 
loudly for the postilions to drive on, and ordered his ser- 
vants, two of whom just then came up at full gallop, to 
fire on the rascals, who immediately ran oif with the utmost 
precipitation through a corn-field, which greatly favored 
their retreat. The ser\'ants, being soon after joined by 
others from Bush Hill, well armed, made diligent search 
after the villains until daylight, but without success." 

Penn's busy colonists who had come to the new country 
on account of religious principles had little concern about 
crimes and disorder. For twelve years an ordinary frame 
dwelling was the only jail the town possessed, and it was 
oftenest empty. The stone prison at Third and High 
Streets was not finished, indeed, until 1723. A cage seven 
feet scjuarc was provided for the evil-doer who was taken 
out with public formality to be " smartly whipped " and 
made to pay six shillings for each unwelcome service of 
this kind. The Quakers had little of the melodramatic in 
their natures and criminals were in little danger of the hero 
worship of modern days. Justice was prompt and impar- 
tial while common sense and exactness held sway over 
sentiment. 

OnVnscs of the Sabbath were serious affairs and in 
1702 (ieorge Kobinson was fined for " uttering two very 
bad curses." AVonicn were held as accountable before the 
law as men and their offenses punished as promptly and 

84 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

justly. So it is little wonder that accusations of witchcraft 
and of dealings with evil spirits should have had no eiFect 
upon the placid Friends. Many attempts were made to in- 
troduce these dramatic affairs into an atmosphere of calm 
depreciation, but all met with a mortifying indifference. 

Parties of Indians frequently came to the city to trade 
and see the sights and excited no surprise. They often 
remained for several weeks and were generally quartered 
in the State House yard. There are at present two plots 
of open ground in the city which tradition says were set 
aside by Penn as Indian reservations for all time. One 
of these is in the rear of 145 South Second Street and the 
other back from Walnut Street near Broad, adjoining 
the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. 

The natural opportunities of the place, the thrift and 
skill of the settlers and the liberality of the government 
soon brought wealth and gi-owth. At the time of the Revo- 
lution the city was the greatest in the country. " No 
other could boast of so many streets, so many houses, so 
many people, so much renown. No other city was so rich, 
so extravagant, so fashionable." Among the features which 
impressed visitors from a distance was the fineness of the 
houses and this was in large measure due to the artisans 
which Penn had induced to come and who had brought old 
world ideas as well as skill with them. As early as 1724, 
indeed, these composed a guild large enough to be pat- 
terned after " The Worshipful Company of Carpenters 
of London," founded in 1477. Penn brought over James 
Portius, a skillful architect, to " design and execute his 
Proprietory buildings," and he left his valuable collection 
of architectural works to the Carpenters Company to form 
the basis of their present library. The book of j oinery pub- 
lished in 1745 gives ample evidence of the source of the 

35 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



fine dwellings that graeed the streets, as well as the pres- 
ence of such able amateur architects as Doctor Kearsley, 
who produced Christ Church, and Andrew Hamilton, who 
designed tlic State House. 

A glimpse of some of the notable dwellings and their 
occupants will give us some idea of what the city looked 
like and did during the first century of its existence when 
it was the scene of so many distinguished events in the 
nation's history and gave birth to so many useful institu- 
tions whose foundations were so well laid that they have 
survived in their usefulness to-day. 

At the southeast corner of Xorris' Alley and Second 
Street where now stands the Main Office of the Keystone 
Telephone Company Samuel Carpenter built the " Slate 
Roof House," noted as the city residence of Penn and his 
family when on his second visit to the city in 1700. Here 
was f)orn John Penn " The American." On returning to 
I^ngland in 1701 Penn left James Logan in charge and he 
retained it as a government house until 1704, when it was 
})urchased from Carpenter by William Trent, founder of 
Tienton, for 8.30 pounds. Trent improved the place and 
had a fine garden extending half way to Front Street and 
on Second nearly to Walnut. It was sold in 1709 to Isaac 
Norris and came finally to be a boarding house and a shop. 
In 18()7 it was pulled down to make way for the Com- 
mercial Kxchange. 

David Hivintnall built one of the first good houses at 
wliat is now 115 Chestnut Street, but deeming it too fine 
for his Quaker persuasion he let it to the Governor of 
Barbndocs who came to Philadelphia for his health. He 
used to rcacli its door in a boat by way of Dock Creek. 
Here was the first Chestnut Street bridge. 

Clarke's Hall was built by William Clarke and occu- 

30 







BRIDGE OVER ARCH STREET AT FRONT 




HOUSE OF DAVID BRIENTNALL AND ANTHONY BENEZET IN CHESTNUT 
STREET AT HUDSON'S ALLEY 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 



pied land from Chestnut Street to Dock Creek and from 
Third up to Hudson's Alley. It was built of brick and 
had well cultivated gardens in the rear. There were only 
two neighbors, Governor Lloyd at the northeast corner of 
Third and Chestnut Streets and Mayor William Hudson 
near the southeast corner of the same streets. When 
young William Penn junior came over, James Logan 
rented Clarke Hall and occupied it himself with Penn, 
Governor Evans and Judge Mompesson. The place de- 
scended through Andrew Hamilton and John Pemberton 
to the wealthy Quaker Israel Pemberton and at the time 
of the Revolution was famous for its formal gardens and 
shrubbery. It was rented and occupied by Alexander 
Hamilton for the offices of the Treasury of the United 
States until 1800 and was soon after this torn down. 

Joshua Carpenter was the brother of Samuel who has 
been mentioned as one of the earliest to improve the new 
city. His house fronted on Chestnut Street, being in the 
centre of a lot running back to the next street and from 
Sixth to Seventh. Here lived Doctor Graeme, son-in- 
law to Sir William Keith, who gave his name to that 
worthy's famous seat at Horsham. Graeme was the father 
of the celebrated Mrs. Ferguson. Governor Thomas lived 
in the house from 1738 to 1747 and the shrubbery and 
fruit trees of the garden extending to Seventh Street were 
visited by many. Later it was occupied by Colonel John 
Dickinson and General Philemon Dickinson, and during 
the Revolution was used as a hospital for the American 
soldiery. After that it was taken by the Chevalier de 
Luzerne, Ambassador of France, who entertained lavishly. 
He was followed by Monsieur Gerard, likewise the Ambas- 
sador of his country, and finally it came to Judge Tilghman 
who sold it for *' improvements " in 1826. 

37 



KAIU.V PHILADELPHIA 



rarsDii Ducliu was a i^icturesque figui'e of the Revo- 
lutionary period. He was one of the first graduates of the 
Academy, now the University of Pennsylvania, and was 
an eloquent preacher. While pastor of St. Peter's Church 
he was asked to act as chaplain of the Continental Congress 
then sitting in Carpenter's Hall. This he did and delivered 
a remarkable prayer by which the delegates were much 
moved. His father built him a house in 1758 in South 
Third Street which was deemed quite out of town. Duche's 
patriotism soon waned and he tried to induce Washington 
to forsake the cause, for which he was compelled to flee 
to England. The house was later occupied by Governor 
IMcKean. 

Among the residents of " Society Hill " were Samuel 
Powell and Joseph Wharton. The former lived at 244! 
South Third Street and was distinguished as INIayor of the 
City and as a lavish entertainer in his handsome house 
built in 1709. His garden and extensive grounds were 
beautifully laid out and the walks adorned with costly 
statuary. Nearby lived Thomas Willing, William 
Bingham and Colonel William Byrd of Westover in Vir- 
ginia. Samuel Powell was a graduate of the College and 
a man of literary and scientific attainments. Washington 
was frequently a guest at his house as were many other 
notables. Joseph Wharton was the owner of " Walnut 
Grove," near the now Fifth and Washington Avenue, 
where the " Mischianza " was held in 1778. 

Bishop \Vhite, the first Anglican Bishop in America, 
lived at 402 South Front Street and later in Walnut 
Street above Tliird. He was one of the most revered and 
trusted men in the city, a graduate and Trustee of the 
Tniversity. chaplain of the Congress, rector of Christ 
Cbureh and intimate of Washington. Next door to the 

38 




RESIDENCE OF JAMES WII-SON. SOUTHEAST CORNER 
^^-^ THIRD AND WALNUT STREETS 




THl- WILLING HOUSE. SOUTHEAST CORNER THIRD STREET 
AND WTLLING'S ALLEY 




PARSON DUCHES HOUSE, SOUTH THIRD STREET 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

Bishop on Front Street was the handsome residence of 
John Stocker, an affluent merchant and a founder of the 
Mutual Assurance Company, the second oldest fire insur- 
ance company in Philadelphia. 

Nicholas Wain lived at 254 South Second Street and 
deserves more space than we can give him here. After 
studying at the Temple in London he soon became a dis- 
tinguished barrister in Philadelphia thi'ough his brilliant 
intellect and legal acumen. After practising less than ten 
years, however, he suddenly renounced his professional 
career and became a deeply concerned Friend, devoting 
himself almost wholly to preaching and performing other 
ministrations in behalf of Quaker interests. Gay clothing 
and canary coloured chariot were given up for the simple 
habits of his sect. His sense of humour did not forsake 
him, however, and his witty sallies will ever be accounted 
the most amusing of the day. Almost his last remark 
was, " I can't die for the life of me." 

John Stamper, a wealthy English merchant and the 
Mayor in 1760, lived at 224 Pine Street and after him 
Robert Blackwell, a noted minister connected with Christ 
Church and St. Peter's. At 322 Union Street, now 
DeLancey, lived Jonathan Evans, a " concerned " Friend 
and a prominent figure in the Separation of 1827. His 
Meeting was in Pine Street near Front, where Dorothy 
Payne, afterwards Dolly Madison, wife of President 
James Madison, married James Todd. 

The large house at 321 South Front Street sheltered 
Henry Hill, of Madeira wine fame, in 1786. Later came 
the McCalls and Doctor Philip Syng Physick, the father 
of American surgery. Mordecai Lewis, a proficient stu- 
dent of the classics and a prominent merchant, lived at 
336 Spruce Street. Samuel Fisher, a noted merchant and 

39 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



eminent Quaker, presented the house to his daughter 
Deborah, who married William Wharton in 1817, and it 
became the <rathering place of many Friends who opposed 
Jonathan Evans and his party in the schism among the 
Friends in 1827. 

John Barclay, Mayor in 1791, built the fine old house 
now occupied by the Pennsylvania Seamen's Friend Soci- 
ety at 422 South Front Street. Its spiral stairway running 
to the lantern in the roof is a famous piece of architecture. 

In 1790 the rich William Bingham built his " Mansion 
House " at Third and Spruce Streets upon a large plot 
of ground about which he planted Lombardy poj^lars, the 
first seen in the city. He had a high board fence about his 
grounds to conceal their beauty and keep the vulgar gaze 
from his lavish entertainments. 

At the southwest corner of Third Street and Willing's 
Alley was the house built for Charles Willing in 1745 after 
the pattern of the family homestead in Bristol, England. 
It was " on the hill beyond Dock Creek " and was thought 
to be a rural home outside the town. The grounds ex- 
tended from Third to Fourth Streets and had many famous 
oak trees. Mr. AVilling's daughter married Senator 
Bingliam, who lived nearby, and the whole area along Third 
Street to Spruce thus became one of family distinction. 

Charles N orris' house on Chestnut between Fourth and 
Fifth Streets was one of the finest in the city at the time 
of its erection in 1750. Like so many others it was sur- 
rounded by a fine garden laid out formally and containing 
many fruit trees and a hot house, all presided over by a 
Swiss gardener for a quarter of a century. The plumbing 
of the house was above the ordinary and supplied cisterns 
and dairy. It furnislied more lead for bullets during the 
Revolution than any other house in town. 

40 




OI I) Hill -I -^ (IN KIN<.. N<>\N \S A I I It. ~ I KKKT 

NKAH SOI Til 

Kxtant 1!I17 




WiiKKMW- (til HI. IM.Mlll.KroN M \1{ 1 IK iN 1 .-lUi;i:T 
Kxljiiit l!MT 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

" Fort Wilson," at the southwest corner of Third and 
Walnut Streets, was the residence of James Wilson. He 
was a professor in the College and the founder of its Law 
School in 1790, the first on the Continent. His services in 
the Constitutional Convention were very distinguished and 
he later went on the Supreme Bench by appointment of 
President Washington. Although he had signed the Decla- 
ration of Independence, he was one of the defenders of 
the Loyalists accused of treason and on this account his 
house was surrounded by a mob in 1779 and serious times 
averted for the occupants of the house by the presence of 
the First City Troop. 

On Pemberton Street near Front, and south of Bain- 
bridge, there is a high wall with two quaint little houses 
facing each other at each side of a gateway through which 
one gets a glimpse of a courtyard and trees. In the bricks 
of the wall are black headers forming the letters " G. M." 
and the date " 1748." This little settlement was built by 
George Mifflin, father of Governor Thomas Mifflin, who 
afterwards left it to his son Jolin. John Mifflin sold the 
houses, which were used for workingmen, to John Work- 
man, of South Carolina, who added two more houses, mak- 
ing a court still known as " Workman's Court." Lately 
it has been bought by E. W. Clark and is used by the 
Octavia Hill Association for housing betterment. 

Nearly every Philadelphian knows the Morris House 
on South Eighth Street, at number 225. It was built in 
1786 by John Reynolds and came soon to Luke Wistar 
Morris, the son of Captain Samuel Morris. Effingham B. 
Morris has restored it to its original beauty and planted 
the garden about it as before. It is the best example in 
the city of the old-time dwelling house. 

Of course the most important building of the city until 

41 



:ARLV PHILADELPHIA 



the erection of the State House in 1735 was the Court 
House. It had two staii-ways uniting in front of the 
buildinir facinor Second Street. After the Revolution these 
stairways were removed and one built on the inside. Daw- 
kin's view and Dove's caricature show the original view, 
while Birch's picture is of it in 1799. In all the old pic- 
tures there is seen a little balcony projecting from the 
second story. This was the landing to which the stairways 
led and from which Governors delivered their inaugural 
addresses, proclamations were read and speeches made. 
In 1739 the celebrated George Whitefield preached from 
this balcony to a vast concourse of people, to whom Ben- 
jamin Franklin says his voice was clearly audible. Beneath 
the Court House auctions were held for many years, and 
one of the tenants there was no less a personage than 
Mayor Thomas LawTence. At one time a physician had 
his office on this floor. (See chapter on Government.) 

At the northwest corner of Second and High Streets 
was tlie home and drug store of John Speakman, Jr.^ a 
prominent Friend. Here was formed on Januarj'^ 25, 1812, 
a society which in March took the title of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, that splendid institution now known all 
over the scientific world. 

It was down Second Street and past Christ Church, 
the Old Court House and the Market Square that General 
Howe and his army made their triumphal entry into the 
city, when tlie throngs of citizens, clad in their best array, 
lined the sidewalks to see the grenadiers march by, stead- 
fast and composed, splendidly equipped, and with their 
music sounding " God Save the King." Here, too, they 
listened to the wild strains of the bearded Hessians, terrible 
in brass fronted hehnets, and suggesting plunder and pil- 
lage to the peaceful Quakers. "\\Tiat a contrast it was to 

42 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

the little patriot army which Washington had led along 
the same street not so long before, a sprig of green in the 
men's hats forming the only sign of uniformity. 

In very early times a prison stood in the middle of High 
Street just behind the Court House or " convenient" to 
it as Gabriel Thomas wrote in 1698. It was soon regarded 
as a nuisance and was removed about 1723, the year after 
the stone prison was built at Third and High Streets. 

At the site of the building now numbered 110 the 
English Bible was first published in America by Robert 
Aitken. He also published the first volumes of the 
" Transactions of the American Philosophical Society." 
After his death his daughter Jane brought out Charles 
Thomson's translation of the Bible in four volumes, the 
first translation attempted in the new world. 

At the southwest corner of Second and High Streets 
there stood until 1810 the Meeting House of the Society 
of Friends. Here the prominent Quakers of our early 
Colonial history worshipped, and here the tired lad Ben- 
jamin Franklin wandered after his arrival in 1723 and fell 
asleep on one of the benches. 

On the same side of the street and to the westward 
were the Royal Standard and Indian King taverns in 
both of which the Lodge of Free Masons was accustomed 
to meet. John Biddle kept the latter for many years. 

The Pennsylvania Hospital was first located on the 
south side of High Street west of Fifth. It had been the 
home of Chief Justice John Kinsey of the Provincial 
Supreme Court and was surrounded by pastures and 
gardens. 

Near the corner of Water and High Streets dwelt 
Chief Justice William Allen, who was the presiding Justice 
over the Supreme Court from 1750 until 1754. Water 

43 



KARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Street was calle<l King Street until the time when Kings 
became unpopular. Justice Allen was opulent and influ- 
ential, lie had been a successful merchant and a founder 
of the Academy and College which subsequently became 
the University of Pennsylvania. The fame of his coach 
drawn by four black horses with an English coachman 
on the box suivived for many a day. 

At 43 Water Street dwelt the famous Stephen Girard, 
" Merchant and ^Mariner," and to his house came the 
French refugees, the Count de Sundlliers, Field Marshal 
Count Grouchy and General Lallemand, especially to 
Sunday dinners. Indeed Girard had entertained before 
this Talleyrand, the Duke of Orleans, later Louis Philippe, 
and his brother, all of whom were emigres at the time of 
the French Kevolution. 

It is thought that William Bradford, the first printer 
in the Middle Colonies, had his shop near Front and High 
Streets and his descendants continued the trade in the 
neighbourhood for a full century or more. Andrew Brad- 
ford's " Mercury," first issued 22nd December, 1719, was 
the first newspaper in the ^liddle Colonies and the second 
printed in this country. Until 1723 he was the only 
printer in the Province and being on that account a per- 
sonage, secured the postmastership as an aid to the dis- 
tribution of his paper. He held the position until Franklin 
wrested it from him on the same account. 

This neigliboiirhood was indeed the printing house 
s(|uare of Piiiladelpliia until the beginning of the last cen- 
tury. At what is now 135 Market Street Franklin started 
his first ])rinting office with Hugh ^leredith and it was 
here in 1741 that he began the publication of the first 
montlily magazine in this country called " The General 
Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British 

44 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

Plantations in America." Mathew Carey began business 
on Front below High Street in 1784 where he published 
" The Pennsylvania Herald." John Dunlap, one of the 
founders of the First City Troop and an early Captain 
of it, was associated in a printing house with David C. 
Claypool near Second and High Streets on the south side 
of the latter. They published the first daily newspaper in 
this country and first published Washington's Farewell 
address. Dunlap started the " Pennsylvania Packet, or 
General Advertiser " in November, 1771. It was then a 
weekly, and Claypool astonished his associate by printing 
it as a daily in 1784. He published the debates of Con- 
gress and Washington sent him the original manuscript 
of his Farewell address. 

At 25 North Second Street, opposite Christ Church, 
was the shop of William Cobbett, widely known by the pen 
name of " Peter Porcupine." He was as keen a satirist 
as Swift and resembled him in more ways than one. Scorch- 
ing invective and keen satire characterized his pamphlets 
and although he wrote in an age of clever pamphleteers he 
remained to the end the leader of them all. Just west of 
Grindstone Alley, on the site of the present number 219, 
was the clockmaker Robert Leslie whose son Charles 
Robert became a great painter. Next door Joseph Cruik- 
shank, the Quaker printer and bookseller, had his shop. 

As early as 1768 David Deshler lived where is now 
number 223. Deshler built the house on the Market Square 
in Germantown where President Washington lived during 
the yellow fever outbreak of 1793. " Honest David Desh- 
ler " was famed for his attire. He favoured olive-coloured 
silk, velvet knee-breeches and bright silver buckles, and 
astonished the plain trustees of the old Academy in Ger- 
mantown when he attended his first meeting in his full 

45 



KARLY rillLADELPHIA 



dress *' regalia." Next door to Deshler on High Street in 
1767 lived Peletiah Webster, a former master of the Ger- 
niantown Academy, now in trade. Opposite to him was 
Hilary leaker, the son of Hilarius Becker, the first head- 
master of the same school. He became Mayor in 1796. 
Nearby was another Germantowner, Colonel Thomas 
Forrest, a Trustee of the Academy, and its President in 
1799. He went to Congress for the first time at the age 
of 72 years. 

On the north side of High Street near Fom*th dwelt 
John and Casper Wister. The latter spelled it with an 
** a " and was really a learned anatomist. His fame, how- 
ever, rests upon his entertainments, which still linger as 
Wistar Parties. He was an early graduate of the medical 
school of the University in 1782 and in 1786 received his 
doctor's degree at Edinburgh, where he became President 
of the Royal Society of Medicine of Edinburgh. He re- 
turned in 1787 and began the practice of his profession 
on High Street. He soon became Professor of Anatomy 
in the University and gathered about him the learned men 
of this and other coimtries for delightful evenings. The 
famous " AVistar Parties " were ahvays held on Sunday 
nights at his later residence at Fourth and Locust Streets. 

At the corner of Fifth and High Streets Israel Whelen 
had his office and lived at certain seasons of the year. 
^Ir. AVlu'lcn was a fighting Quaker, although not one of 
the organization bearing tliat name. He was an authority 
on banking and finances and a shipping merchant of large 
resources. He became Commissary General in the Revo- 
lution, feeling tliat it was right to " resist lawless tyramiy, 
bearing down all l)cfore it." Friends were alarmed at his 
digression but took him back and buried him in their grave- 
yard at Fourth and Arch Streets. He was the head of the 

4G 




CHARLES NORRIS' HOUSK, CHESTNUT BETWEEN 
EOURTH AND FIFTH STREETS 




ROHEHT MOlUilS' Hdl Sl.S, SOITIIWESI ( OliM.U SIXTH AND HIGH SI'KKETS 




CLARKE'S HALL, CHESTNUT STREET BETWEEN THIRD 
STREET AND HUDSON'S ALLEY 







— 5 

— is 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

Electoral College that chose John Adams President and 
the third President of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. 
In 1793 he moved to High above Eighth Street and had 
his place of business at the northwest corner of Fourth and 
High. William Sellers, famed for his invention of drawn 
wire and wire weaving, erected the house at Sixth and High. 

Probably the most historic personages to reside in this 
vicinity lived in the house between Fifth and Sixth Streets, 
now numbered 526, 528 and 530. During the British occu- 
pation, this mansion being regarded as the finest in the city, 
was taken by General Howe for his headquarters and on 
its grounds was quartered the 15th Regiment of Foot. As 
soon as the British had evacuated the city. General Benedict 
Arnold, who had been placed in charge of Philadelphia, 
found it to his taste and so occupied it. Sometime after- 
ward it was partially destroyed by fire, but Robert Morris 
built it up again with improvement and lived there for 
several years. It cost him £3750, and nearly at 
what is now numbered 510 he had his counting house. 
When the Capital of the Nation came to Philadelphia the 
fine residence so centrally located became Washington's 
Executive Mansion at a yearly rental of $3000. This was 
more than any other property in the City could command, 
so we are able to judge that the proximity of the Market 
must have been an advantage rather than otherwise. From 
December, 1790, until March, 1797, the President resided 
there except when on vacation at Mount Vernon or at Ger- 
mantown during the yellow fever epidemic. At the latter 
place his front windows again looked out upon the Market 
Square so that Mrs. Washington was well located for keep- 
ing the State dinners plentifully supplied. 

After Robert Morris moved out to make way for 
Washington, he went to the southwest corner of Sixth and 

47 



-y 



KARLY PHILADELPHIA 



High Streets to live and in 1793 he moved his counting 
house to the same location in a back building. He got this 
liouse from Joseph Galloway, the Tory lawyer and 
Speaker of the xVsscmbly. Galloway drew up the plan for 
tlie (iermantown Academy in 1759 and was a noted public 
character. Tlie State confiscated his residence during the 
Revolution for the use of the President of the Supreme 
Executive Council of the State, which was the administra- 
tive body of the Commonwealth during the war. Conse- 
quently, we find Joseph Reed, William ISIoore and John 
Dickinson credited to this corner from 1778 to 1785. Dick- 
inson was a Maryland Quaker particularly famous for his 
" Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer," which told the 
English how the Colonies felt and secured the repeal of the 
Stamp Act. He opposed resistance by arms but favoured 
it upon constituticmal grounds. His counsels prevailed in 
the Colonies for a long time but his opposition to the Decla- 
ration of Independence as untimely retired him to private 
life for a while. He proved a staunch patriot, however, 
and regained his influence. He was the author of the first 
xVmcrican patriotic song, " Hearts of Oak," which ap- 
peared in Goddard's " Pennsylvania Chronicle." 

At what would be number 611 lived Charles Biddle 
between 1785 and 1791. He was the President of the 
Second L^nited States Bank, the father of Xicholas Biddle, 
and an experienced mariner. He was one of the best 
known men in the city and has left a most interesting auto- 
biography. Charles Biddle was a friend of Aaron Burr 
and it was to his house on Chestnut Street near Fourth 
that Burr came after the fatal duel with Hamilton. Next 
door to him on Market ^Street lived his brother, James 
Biddle, who was President Judge of the First Judicial 
District of Pennsylvania. 

48 



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY 

On the north side of Market Street between Sixth and 
Seventh Streets, Dr. Joseph Priestly, the discoverer of 
oxygen, dwelt. Dr. Priestly is also known as the founder 
of Unitarianism in this country. Among the residents of 
this square none were better known than EUiston and 
John Perot. They were natives of Bermuda who had been 
made prisoners by the British in their conflict with Holland, 
and while the brothers were in business in Dominica. After 
coming to Philadelphia they had their first place of busi- 
ness in Water Street, next to Stephen Girard, for they 
were of French descent. Soon they took residences on 
Market between Seventh and Eighth Streets, where they 
engaged in West India trade. In 1795 Elliston lived at 
the present number 733 and John at 709. About 1800, 
however, John moved next door to his brother. 

This is the picture of Penn's " greene country towne " 
with its " many brave Brick Houses " surrounded by gar- 
dens and orchards " to the great Content and Satisfaction 
of all here concerned," with its streams and duck ponds 
and expanse of lovely river front. The earliest traces of 
it all are gone but there are a few reminders in similar old 
streets given over to the unappreciative. There are some 
front cellar doors on the sidewalk, numerous old fire insur- 
ance marks, a few f ootscrapers and old knockers, while the 
famous Philadelphia marble steps kept so scrupulously 
clean have not yet vanished away. Architects are building 
houses after the old style and we are thinking of an open 
river front with the esplanade which William Penn hoped 
and planned for. 



THE STRANGER IN TOWN 




NTEKESTIXG as an intimate de- 
scription of Colonial conditions may- 
be, we should lose perspective if we 
did not stand off, as it were, and view 
some of our affairs through the eyes 
of a stranger. So we can round out 
our ideas of the city's early life by 
knowing some of the impressions made upon distinguished 
visitors in those days. 

Dr. Alexander Hamilton visited the city in 1741. He 
says the shops open at five in the morning. He di*ank tea 
at the Governor's Club, a society of gentlemen that meet 
at a t<'ivern every night and converse on various subjects. 
The Governor comes once a week, generally Wednesday, 
and the conversation when he was there was upon the 
English poets and Cervantes! He says the heat was ex- 
cessive but there is a pump of excellent water every fifty 
paces. He mentions brick pavements, painted awnings 
and a number of balconies. There was but one public 
clock whicli struck the hours but had neither index nor dial 
plate. Being in a tavern one night he makes this interest- 
ing observation — " a knot of Quakers there talked only 
about the selling of flour and the low price it bore, they 
touched a little upon religion, and high words arose among 
some of tlie sectaries but their blood was not hot enough 
to quaiTcl. or, to speak in the canting phrase, their zeal 
wanted fervency." He observes that the Quakers w^ere 
the ricliest and the people of the greatest interest in the 
government and tliat they chiefly composed the House of 
Assembly, and then he remarks tliat, " They have the char- 
acter of an ol)stinate and stifl"-necked generation, and a 
perpetual plague to their govemours." 

50 



THE STRANGER IN TOWN 



A diary of this day testifies to the excellence of the 
entertainment. Here is one characteristic entry: 

"this morning most of the family were busy pre- 
paring for a great dinner, two green turtles having been sent to 
Johnny ... we concluded to dress them both together here 
and invited the whole family in. We had three tureens of soup, 
the two shells baked, besides several dishes of stew, with boned 
turkey, roast ducks, veal and beef. After these were removed the 
table was filled with two kinds of jellies and various kinds of 
pudding, pies and preserves ; and then almonds, raisins, nuts, 
apples and oranges. Twenty-four sat down at the table." 

The next entry states that 

" My husband passed a restless night with gout." 

Peter Kalm, the Swedish traveller, speaks enthusiasti- 
cally of the fine streets in 1748, particularly the market 
street which was one hundred feet wide. The Rev. Andrew 
Bumaby, A.M., Vicar of Greenwich, visited the city in 
1759-60. He speaks of the public market held twice a 
week on Wednesday and Saturday as " almost equal to 
that of Leaden Hall," and says there is "a tolerable one 
every day besides." The streets are crowded with people 
and the river with vessels. He notes the expense of house 
rent as one hundred pounds per annum and that lots 30 x 
100 sell for £1000. 

In that interesting diary compiled by Jacob Hiltz- 
heimer he tells of the ringing of the town bell for fires 
and that on June 4, 1766, " Being the King's birthday, 
dined on the banks of the Schuylkill in company of about 
380 persons, several healths were drunk, among them Dr. 
Franklin, which gave great satisfaction to the Company." 

Perhaps the custom of the ladies themselves going to 
market may have been caused in a measxire by the condition 

51 



EAllLY P111LADELPHL\ 



described in 1769 by a newly arrived Englishman writing 
home, lie says: 

" Wni can have no idea of the plague we have with 
servants on this side of the water. If you bring a good 
one he is spoilt in a month. Those born in the country 
are insolent and extravagant. The imported Dutch are to 
the last degree ignorant and awkward. The negroes are 
stupid and sulky and stink damnably. We have tried them 
all round, and this is the sum total of my observations: 
the devil take the hindmost! " 

Johann David Schoepf mentions in his Travels in the 
Confederation 178.3-4 that " Going from Philadelphia one 
passes the Schuylkill, at the middle ferry, by a floating 
bridge consisting of great logs joined together by cramp 
irons. In order that the bridge may rise and fall with 
the ebb and flow of the water, there have been fixed at suit- 
able distances stout iron turning joints in the longitudinal 
timbers." There are 'J^OO houses, he says, and no streets 
west of Seventh, Vine and Pine being the north and south 
limits. The market buildings are tw^o long open stalls from 
Front to Third and later further with the upper part of 
tlie Court House. Lanterns are placed on posts and night 
watchmen call out the hour and weather. " Christ Church 
has a beautiful chime of bells, which makes a complete 
octave and is heard especially on evenings before the weekly 
markets and at times of other glad public events. Eight 
notes of tlie octave are struck singly several times, descend- 
ing rapidly one after the other — and then the accord follows 
in tercet and quint, ascending, and so repeated." He de- 
sfiibcs tlie taste in dress as English, of the finest cloth and 
linen. Ever)- year dressed dolls are brought the women 
from l^'urope which give the law of tlie mode. To be in- 
dustrious and frugal, at least more so than the inhabitants 

5i 




OLD KNOCKERS, FRANKLIN STREET LAMP, AND FOOT SCRAPERS 



THE STRANGER IN TOWN 



of the Provinces to the south, is the recognized and unmis- 
takable character of the Philadelphians. He is astonished 
at the extraordinary stores of provisions in the markets, 
at the cleanhness and good order in which the stock is ex- 
posed for sale. On the evenings before the market days, 
Wednesday and Saturday, all the bells in the city are rung 
and people from a distance come into the city in great 
covered wagons loaded with all manner of provender. 
Meat costs four pence while in 1778 it was four shillings. 
He notes that the war left no trace of want but the same 
exuberant plenty. The inhabitants are well clothed, well 
fed and better than their betters in Europe. He saw fine 
wheat bread, good meats and fowls, " cyder " beer and rum. 
Instead of a Bourse, the people use a Coffee House where 
most persons engaged in business affairs meet at mid-day to 
get news of entering or clearing vessels and to inform them- 
selves of the market. Hats especially are made in Philadel- 
phia from beaver skins and preferred to European makes. 
Ann Warder has an interesting entry in her diary under 
date of Sixth month, 11th, 1786. She says the Market 
Street Meeting is double the size of Gracechurch Street in 
London, that there are five doors and one each side of the 
Minister's gallery. The dress of the women Friends differs 
from England in that there are no white frocks but blue 
and yellow skirts with handkerchiefs close up to throats 
with a frill around the neck. A man in the Quaker gallery 
wore a mulberry coat, nankeen waistcoat and breeches with 
white stockings. Table dishes consisted of roast turkey, 
a tongue laid in mashed potatoes, whipped silly bubs, oys- 
ter-pie, boiled leg of pork, bread pudding and tarts. Pro- 
visions are cheap, she says, and the greatest luxury is the 
abundance of fruit. Pineapples, strawberries, apples, 
cherries and peas abound. The heat is violent. 

53 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Dr. ^lanasseh Cutler of Xew England was in Phila- 
delphia in 1787. One of his notable pleasures was his view 
of High Street — the present ^Market Street — at an hour 
of a siininier morning when it was still so dark that he could 
not distinctly see a man a few rods away, but when, to his 
astonishment, he found more than one hundred persons 
in the market house and crowds going into it from every 
street. The market building, considered by many as " the 
greatest curiosity in the city," was one story high, was sup- 
ported l)y brick 2)illars and was nearly half a mile in length 
in the centre of the highway. Some parts were used for 
fish, other parts for meat, and others for butter, vegetables 
and fruits, and everything was as neat and clean as a dining 
hall. The crowds of people were of every rank and condi- 
tion of life, of every age and of every colour, and there 
seemed to be some of every nation under heaven ; there was 
bir/zing nmrmur of voices that resounded through the mar- 
kets, l)ut no clamour nor crying of wares. Again Cutler 
was impressed as he had been at Elbridge Gerry's, with the 
early hours in which the people of this city moved about 
in beginning their affairs for the day. It was difficult for 
him to reconcile this habit with the comparatively belated 
hours of breakfast in his own city, and the presence of the 
women on the streets so early seemed to have struck him at 
first as something that might be wanting in delicacy. " The 
ladies, indeed," he said of the High Street market, " are 
the principal purchasers, and are in a dress not easy to be 
known l)y their most intimate acquaintances and are always 
attendeil by a servant with a basket. What would the deli- 
cate lioston ladies think if they were to be abroad at this 
hour? " Anotlier traveller writing under a nom-de-plume 
says that " One of the local institutions that had more than 
local celebrity was the High Street ^larket." Beginning 



54 




PINE STREET MEETING HOUSE 




\:/ y\ 




SPARKS' SHOT TOWER, FRONT AND CARl'EN'l'EK STREETS 

(See page 99) 



THE STRANGER IN TOWN 



at Front Street it had been built at that time as far to the 
west as Eighth Street ; it consisted of a series of colonnade 
sheds in the middle of the street; the columns were of 
brick, and the roofs, which were shingled, were arched 
underneath. It was impossible, according to ' Prolix,' to 
say too much of the excellence of the beef, mutton and veal, 
and at no other place under the welkin was there sold such 
butter and cheese. " They are," he said, " produced on dairy 
farms and by families near the city whose energies have, 
for several generations, been directed to this one useful 
end and who now work with an art made perfect by the 
experience of a century." 

Of course we can expect something enthusiastic from 
John Adams, who could always be trusted to chronicle duly 
anytliing that tickled his palate. He licks his chops, so 
to speak, over Mayor Powell's dinners during the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1787. Here is one of his diary 
entries: " September 8, Thursday — Dined at Mr. Powell's 
with . . . and many others; a most sinful feast again! 
Everything which could delight the eye or allure the taste ; 
curds and creams, jellies, sweetmeats of various sorts, 
twenty sorts of tarts, fools, trifles, floating islands, whipped 
sillibub, etc., etc., Parmesan cheese, punch, wine, porter, 
beer, etc." He speaks of another dinner at Mr. Chief 
Justice Chew's house on Third Street: " Turtle and every 
other thing, flummery, jellies, sweetmeats, of twenty sorts, 
trifles, whipped sillabubs, floating islands, fools, etc., and 
then a dessert of fruits, raisins, almonds, pears, peaches, 
wines most excellent and admirable. I drank Madeira at 
a great rate and found no inconvenience in it." What 
more glowing tribute to Philadelphia hospitality could we 
have than this out of New England ! 

J. P. Brissot de Warville records in his travels in 1788, 

55 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



that the market day suggests a town well managed and 
wealth, science and virtue, the children of Industry and 
Temperance are tlie achievements of the inhabitants. The 
market is one of tlie finest in the universe, " variety and 
abundance in the articles, order in the distribution, good 
faitli and tranquility in the trader, are all here united." 
Cleanliness is consi)icuous in everything, articles and 
sellers. The women from the country are dressed decently, 
the articles neatly arranged and everything is assembled — 
both products of country and of industry. A multitude of 
men and women were moving in every direction without 
tumult or injury, A market of brothers, a rendezvous of 
philosophers. Silence reigns without interruption; there 
are no cries, the carts and horses are peaceably arranged 
in the next street and when disengaged move off in silence. 
No quarrels among porters, no fools or macaronies gallop- 
ing in streets. " Habit inspired by Quakers, who planted 
morals in this countr}% a habit of doing everything with 
tranquility and with reason; injuring no person and having 
no need of the interposition of the magistrate." Two clerks 
of the police walk in the market. If they suspect a pound 
of butter of being light, they weigh it, if light, seized for 
use of hospital. Price of bread /I to /2 the pound, beef 
and nmtton /2 to /4, veal /I to /2. Hay 20/ to 30/ the 
ton. Butter /4. to /6 the pound. Wood 7/ to 8/ the cord. 
Vegetables abundant and cheap. Wines of Europe cheap 
except in taverns. Hair dressing /8 a day or 12/ a month. 
One horse chaise 3 days — 3 louis d'ors. Philadelphia is the 
metropolis of the United States; the finest and best built 
town, most wealth though not most luxurious. There are 
more men of information, more political and literary knowl- 
edge and more learned societies. At 10 r.:\i. all is tranquil 
in the streets, whicli are lighted by lamps placed like those 

56 



'■5S«ffli|R'?^ 




THE STRANGER IN TOWN 



of London. Few watchmen. Footways are of brick, gut- 
ters brick or wood. Strong posts to prevent carriages 
on footways. Public pumps in great numbers. Families 
sit in evenings to take fresh air on two benches placed at 
the door of each house. Many handsome wagons long, 
light and open, chairs and sulkies. There are no fine 
horses. The streets are not inscribed nor the doors num- 
bered. The shops are remarkably neat. 

These contemporary portraits, thumb nail sketches 
though they are, serve to give us a glimpse of the peace and 
good-living of our forefathers, no little of which came from 
the care that they bestowed upon their markets as the civic 
centre of the community. Undoubtedly it was brought 
about by the interest and participation of the best people 
in the place. 



THE CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 




S>K have seen that Pennsylvania owed 
its existence to religion — to persecu- 
tion at home and the opportunity 
given to Penn to try the " Holy Ex- 
periment " which had been " opened " 
to him. It was a period of intense 
religious opinions which were so 
absorbing as to control the political and indeed whole con- 
duct of the people. The Quakers believed in the universal 
and direct revelation of God to each individual and that 
tliis " Inward Light " or " Spirit of Christ " could be best 
found and cultivated by silence and meditation without the 
barriers erected by outward or worldly things which they 
believed to be nonessential and of the senses only. They 
objected to a prearranged ceremony and a " man-made 
ministiy " and thought that religion was not so much a 
matter of creed or dogma as of right living. They wished 
to revive primitive Christianity when God revealed Him- 
self directly to man. In their earliest history they made 
extreme protests against the bondage of ancient dogmas 
and >vhat tliey considered non-religious and privileged 
practices. But as the sect grew and organized it became 
more orderly while at the same time the abuses it objected 
to declined. 

The first settlers of Philadelphia were of course English 
Quakers, but the absolute freedom of conscience guaranteed 
under the " Holy Experiment " soon attracted many other 
sects. I^eligious persecution at home as well as Penn's 
prcacliing among tlicm brouglit many Germans, and these, 
under Francis Daniel Pastorius, founded the first settle- 
ment of that nationality in America at Germanto\Mi. They 
resem])led tlie Quakers very much, with less quietism. 

58 



/; "^'?^'l',i'■^< 




FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE IN CENTRE SQUARE WHERE CITY HALL 
NOW STANDS. BUILT 1694 




1 HUMAS FAIRMAN'S HOUSE AND PENN TREATY ELM AT WHAT IS NOW 

SHACKAMAXON STREET AND THE DELAWARE RIVER 
The house was built in 1702 and taken down in ISM; the tree blew down in 1810 




KKIKNDS' MKIll.NC. ll<ll>i:, MKHION. lU ILT IN IGliJ 




l\ I I l:|i ii: t II Ml KKiN MKK'riN(, 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



Indeed, their leader became a Quaker and was one of the 
most remarkable men in the whole colony. He could speak 
eight languages and was well read in science and philoso- 
phy, having studied at Basle, Strasburg and Jena and lec- 
tured at Frankfort. He was one of those who signed the 
first protest against slavery in this country issued by the 
Friends' Meeting in Germantown in 1688. 

The Welsh were nearly all Quakers, with a sprinkling 
of Baptists and Churchmen. They took up the " Welsh 
Barony " west of the Schuylkill and on its other side where 
is now Penllyn, Gwynedd and North Wales. Here they 
ruled in their own way, their Quaker Meetings exercising 
civil authority and handing down " advice " which seems 
to have regulated the entire community so that all were 
" satisfied." All the physicians in the province prior to 
1700 appear to have been Welshmen, the most prominent 
being Dr. Thomas Wynne, who came over with Penn in 
the Welcome and for whom Chestnut Street was originally 
named. 

The first Friends' Meeting was held at Shackamaxon, 
in the now Kensington district of Philadelphia, at the house 
of Thomas Fairman, opposite the Treaty Elm, in 1681. 
The settlement of the city rendered this place inconvenient 
and Richard Townsend, who came with Penn in the Wel- 
come, says in his " Testimony " that one boarded meeting 
house was set up where the city was to be, so that this 
structure must have been the first concern of the settlers, 
even before their dwellings, and while the caves were yet 
in use. 

On the 9th of January, 1693, a meeting of Friends was 
held in Philadelphia and Thomas Holme, John Songhiu'st, 
Thomas Wynne and Griffith Owen were selected to make 
the choice of a site for a meeting house and build it. In 

59 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



August of the next year the Quarterly Meeting directed 
the building of a house in the Centre Square where now 
the City Hall stands, to be fifty by forty-six feet and of 
brick. At the same time another meeting house was pro- 
jected for the Evening jNIeetings up on the river bank on 
Front above Sassafras Street. Sassafras was later called 
Race, because it led to the place w^here the races were held. 
This house was fifty by thirty-eight feet, and was but a 
temporary affair of frame, being replaced by another of 
brick in 1703 which stood on the west side of Front above 
Race. Some of the timbers from this ancient Bank fleet- 
ing House are to be found in the present Friends' Meeting 
House on Twelfth Street below Market. 

The meeting place at Centre Square proving inconveni- 
ent on account of its being so far out of town, a large house 
was built in 1695 at the corner of Second and High Streets, 
on ground given to George Fox, the founder of the Soci- 
ety of Friends. This house had a four angled roof sur- 
mounted in its centre by a raised frame of glass work, so 
constructed as to let light down into the meeting below. 
This house of course became the centre for Friends and 
their affairs. Governor Penn and his council met in it, as 
well as at the founder's residence, and beneath its roof were 
decided the destiny of the province until the building was 
taken down in 1755, when another was erected in its stead. 
This served until 1804, when, because of cramped quarters, 
the large house at Fourth and Mulberry, now Arch Street, 
was built on ground granted to Friends by William Penn 
for a burial place and so long as they *' shall be in fellow- 
ship with the Yearly Meeting of said Friends in London." 

The Welsh Friends built several fleeting Houses 
across the Schuylkill at an early time and their house at 
Merion, built in 1005, is the oldest Meeting House of the 

60 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



Society of Friends now standing in Pennsylvania. One of 
its founders was Thomas Wynne, " cliirurgeon," and one 
of its frequent attenders was William Penn, who rode out 
on horseback of a Firstday Morning to preach. The 
wooden peg upon which he was wont to hang his hat is still 
used and no less a personage than Thomas Wynne sits 
to-day at the head of the well kept Meeting. At Frank- 
ford, Germantown and Fairhill there were early meetings 
established and houses set up where still Friends assemble 
for worship and discipline. Thomas Lloyd, in writing a 
letter to the Friends' Meeting at Dolobran, in Wales, 
dated the second of sixth month, 1684, tells them that there 
were then 800 people at meeting in Philadelphia. 

In 1691 James Dickinson held meetings out of doors, 
sometimes in deep snow, the meeting-houses not being 
large enough to contain the people. James Logan and 
Gabriel Thomas think that there were about 20,000 Friends 
in the province about 1700 and when Frankhn testified 
before a Committee of the House of Commons in 1766 he 
estimated the number of Quakers in Pennsylvania at 
53,000, one-third of the total population. As no census 
was ever taken, Franklin's guess was probably based more 
upon the influence of Friends than their actual numbers, 
although journals of the period frequently speak of an 
increase in numbers and the establishment of many new 
meetings and enlargement of old houses of worship. 
Samuel Fothergill says in 1754 that the meetings in Phila- 
delphia are " exceedingly large and all sorts and ranks of 
people flock to them." 

So we can easily see why our customs and institutions 
are so well defined in their heritage of Quaker ways and 
principles, peculiarities which have given advertising value 
to the name for more than a hundred commodities of to-day. 

61 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



For a time Friends were in absolute control of the govern- 
ment, but it was not long, with the influx of population of 
other sects and lands, before trouble began for the dove in 
controlling the eagle. Thus there arose a powerful party 
opposed to the control of the Friends in the Assembly, par- 
ticularly on account of their peace principles. The char- 
acter, influence and historic claims of the Quakers, however, 
constituted the potent social and political forces of the 
State and indeed after they became a small minority of the 
population and had pretty w^ell withdrawn from politics 
on account of religious scruples, such w^as the confidence 
reposed in them that even in the back districts where but 
few Friends resided, these were generally chosen by the 
votes of others who WTre not conscientiously opposed to 
war. 

Perhaps the most accomplished Quaker leader of the 
early citj^ w^as James Logan, Penn's young secretary. For 
half a century he was a most potent factor in provincial 
affairs. He was scholarly, genial and vigorous, believed 
in a defensive war and was intolerant of the narrow dis- 
tinctions of his sect. Perfectly faithful to the Penn family, 
he managed Indian affairs with great skill and quite in 
the spirit of the founder. His seat at " Stenton " was and 
still is one of the most stately of mansions. Here he enter- 
tained Indians and distinguished visitors with a free hand 
and pursued the muses to his heart's content, never allowing 
his business to interfere. 

Writing to Thomas Story in England in 1724. Logan 
gives us a picture of his daughter Sarah: 

" Sally, besides her needle, has been learning French, and this 
last week, has been very busy in the dairy at the plantation, in 
which she deHghts as well as in spinning; but is this moment at 
the table with me (being first-day afternoon and her mother 

62 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



abroad), reading the 34th Psalm in Hebrew, the letters of which 
she learned very perfectly in less than two hours' time, an experi- 
ment I made of her capacity only for my diversion though, I 
never design to give her that or any other learned language, unless 
the French be accounted such." 

Speaking of her sister Hannah, William Black, the 
young Virginia secretary of the Indian Commission en 
route to make a treaty with the Iroquois at Lancaster^ 
writes in 1744: 

" I was really very much surprised at the Appearance of so 
Charming a Woman, at a place where the seeming moroseness and 
Goutified Fathers Appearance Promised no such Beauty, tho' 
it must be allow'd the Man seem'd to have some Remains of a hand- 
some enough Person, and a Complexion beyond his years, for he 
was turned of 70; But to return to the Lady, I declare I burnt 
my Lips more than once, being quite thoughtless of the warmness 
of my Tea, entirely lost in Contemplating her Beauties. She was 
tall and Slender, but Exactly well Shap'd, her Features Perfect, 
and Complexion tho' a little the whitest, yet her Countenance had 
something in it extremely Sweet. Her Eyes Express'd a very 
great Softness, denoting a Compos'd Temper and Serenity of 
Mind, Her manner was Grave and Reserv'd and to be short she 
had a Sort of Majesty in her Person, and Agreeableness in her 
Behaviour, which at once surprised and Charmed the Beholders;" 

James Logan held many of the highest positions of 
public trust, was a founder of the College and the possessor 
of the most extensive library in the Colonies, which he left 
to the Library Company of Philadelphia. He was fol- 
lowed by a long line of capable and distinguished de- 
scendants, some of whom lived at " Stenton " until recent 
years when it passed into the possession of the city. 

A leader of more rigid Friendly principle was David 
Lloyd, a Welshman of remarkable ability and the first 
political " boss " of the State. His shrewdness and cham- 



EARLY PHILADELPHL\ 



pionship of popular rights gained many prerogatives for 
the people. Thomas Lloyd and Isaac Norris, both min- 
isters among Friends, were very prominent in the govern- 
ment of the province, and John Kinsey, Clerk of the Yearly 
iNIeeting, became Speaker of the Assembly and Chief 
Justice, thus combining leadership in Church and State 
until his death in 17o0. He was the last of the prominent 
Friends in public life and the leadership of the " Quaker 
Party " passed strangely enough to Benjamin Franklin. 
It had always been the liberty party of the province and 
he happened to be the popular leader. The only Friend 
who seems to have remained prominently in public life 
after this time was John Dickinson, who was the most con- 
spicuous person in the service of the State from 1760 until 
1785. From the meeting of the Stamp Act Congress until 
his death he was a prominent figure in national history. 
He was the first to advocate resistance, on constitutional 
gi'ounds, to the ministerial plan of taxation, and for a long 
period after the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill he 
controlled the councils of the country. He courageously 
maintained that the Declaration of Independence was in- 
opportune and so sank at once from the position of a leader 
to that of a martyr to his opinions. However, after it was 
found that compromise was impossible and the step was 
taken he proved his patriotism and remained firm in the 
defense of the cause. He is perhaps best known for his 
" Farmer's Letters " published in the Pennsylvania Chron- 
icle and addressed to the people of Great Britain, which 
did most to secure the repeal of the Stamp Act, but he 
prepared many of the important state papers for the Con- 
tinental Congress and took a distinguished part in tlie 
Convention which framed the Constitution of the United 
States. 

64 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



He is thus described by a contemporary: " I have a 
vivid recollection of the man, tall and spare, liis hair white 
as snow, his face united with the severe simplicity of his 
sect, a neatness and elegance peculiarly in keeping with it ; 
his manners a beautiful emanation of the great Christian 
principle of love, with that gentleness and aff ectionateness 
which, whatever may be the cause, the Friends, or at least 
individuals among them, exhibit more than others, com- 
bining the politeness of a man of the world familiar with 
society in its most polished forms with conventional canons 
of behaviour. Truly he lives in my memory as the realiza- 
tion of mj^ beau-ideal of a gentleman." 

In a community of Quakers there were of course very 
many prominent ones, but these glimpses of those generally 
distinguished will give a sufficient picture of the sect which 
founded Philadelphia and gave character to the city and 
its institutions. As is often the case, a few radical ones 
because of their grotesqueness have too often led people 
to misjudge the whole and believe them to have been a hard, 
rigid, ascetic people. Their dress generally was simply the 
dress of everybody with the extravagances left off or, as 
William Penn told King James, when asked by that mon- 
arch to explain the differences in their faiths: " The only 
difference lies in the ornaments that have been added to 
thine." 

An account of the marriage of Isaac Collins, of Bur- 
lington, to Rachel Budd, of Philadelphia, at the Bank 
Meeting in May of 1771 gives us an idea of a Quaker 
wedding. " His wedding dress was a coat of peach blossom 
cloth, the great skirts of which had outside pockets. It 
was lined throughout with quilted silk. The large waist- 
coat was of the same material. He wore small clothes, knee 
buckles, silk stockings and pumps. A cocked hat sur- 

5 65 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



mounted the whole. The bride, who is described as ' lovely 
in mind and person,' wore a light blue brocade, shoes of 
the same material, with very high heel not larger than a 
gold dollar, and sharply pointed at the toes. Her dress 
was in the fashion of the day, consisting of a robe, long 
in the back, with a large hoop. A short blue bodice, with 
a white stomacher embroidered in colors, had a blue cord 
laced from side to side. On her head she wore a black mode 
hood lined with white silk, the large cape extending over 
the shoulders. Upon her return from meeting after the 
ceremony, she put on a thin white apron of ample dimen- 
sions, tied in front with a large blue bow." Wigs were 
generally worn by genteel Friends, as by other people, and 
Ann Warder tells in her diary of a minister in the gallery 
at Market Street Meeting, where she attended sixth month, 
11th, 1786, with a mulberry coat, nankeen waistcoat and 
breeches and white stockings. She says the women wore 
blue and yellow skirts with handkerchiefs close up to the 
tliroats with a frill around the neck. Another letter men- 
tions a bride's dress in meeting as " a lilac satin gown and 
skirt with a white satin cloak and bonnet." 

Penn's Manor of " Pennsbury " on the Delaw\nre was 
a model for any architect. Its size and furnisliings were on 
a luxurious scale. The ground was terraced and the lawns 
and gardens extended all around the house. Vistas were 
cut through the trees to give views up and down the river, 
and many English trees of great beauty had been sent over 
and planted, as well as shrubs from INIaryland. 

The house was furnished with pewter, silver, chinaware 
and much handsome furniture. The curtains were of satin. 
The cellar was well stocked with sherry, madeira, canary 
and claret, and with six large cisterns of beer. His coach, 
calash, sedan chair and barge were as handsome as the day 

66 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



furnished, and his stable was full of good horses brought 
from England. Nor were Friends so neglectful of art as 
has been supposed, for in the case of Benjamin West his 
parents did not reprove his passion for painting, but en- 
couraged him in it and helped him to the best of their abil- 
ity. When he was sixteen years old a meeting was 
appointed at Springfield, near Swarthmore, his dwelling 
place, to consider his destiny. His father laid the case 
before the meeting and John Williamson made an eloquent 
plea on behalf of the youth's " wonderful inspiration to 
cultivate the art of painting." The meeting gave its con- 
sent, the women kissed him, and the men, one by one, laid 
their hands upon his head, praying for a blessing on his 
life and work. Thus the Society of Friends gave its de- 
liberate approval to the birth of fine art in the New World, 
and gave a religious inspiration to the young artist. He 
lived to become a founder and the President of the Royal 
Academy. 

The vnt of Nicholas Wain, a minister and the Clerk 
of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, was unsurpassed in his 
day and many of his sallies have been recounted. In his 
last illness he became much wasted away and being plied 
with many mustard plasters he remarked from under the 
plasters, " Don't you think there is more mustard than 
needed for the amount of meat." 

As time wore on and the Quakers became wealthy 
through thrift and industry, they acquired the character- 
istic of nearly every important religious and political or- 
ganization. Their zeal for their original message waned 
and their precious lives were occupied with the taking 
care of their property and the maintenance of their organi- 
zation. Rigid dispensation of discipline made by them- 
selves and the loss of their missionary zeal depleted their 

67 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



numbers and the acquisition of many fads divided their 
strength. In the press of affairs and the complexity of 
modern life their system of transacting the business of the 
meeting by " unity " broke down entirely and settled into 
a tyrannous rule of a few ancient Friends with little else 
to do. The official meetings are still carried on in tliis 
way and take on the character of a hereditar}^ secret society. 
They are interesting only as a quaint sun^ival of seven- 
teenth century customs. This does not by any means 
mean, however, that the Quakers or their message are dying 
out. There has been a spontaneous revival of their original 
message among the younger members which has spread all 
over the world, strangely enough without the inspiration 
of the Society officially or its Meetings, and this is firing 
great numbers to a return of the former zeal of the founders 
brought into modern form. It is healing the divisions of 
the past and bids fair to unite all in a common cause. 

The Church of England men were at first few in num- 
bers and no petition for a parish in Philadelphia was made 
until 1695, thirteen years after the founding of the colony. 
What they lacked in numbers, however, they made up in 
intelligence and in sustained hostility to the Quakers. With 
Christ Church and the College under Dr. William Smith 
as rallying points they increased and became powerful as 
a party. They were very friendly with the Lutheran 
Swedes and gradually absorbed them, as they did many 
of the Keithean Quakers. They were not used to and did 
not like religious equality and wanted their faith estab- 
lished by law. They had been accustomed to snubbing 
the Quakers at home and objected to this being a penal 
offense, sending long complaints to the home government 
asking tliat the colony be taken from the Quakers and made 
a royal province. W^ien they gained control later they 

G8 




THE FIRST CHRIST CHURCH, BUILT IN 1695 




THE COURT HOUSE IN HIGH STREET AND CHRIST CHURCH, LOOKING 
NORTH ON SECOND STREET 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



reversed this position. It was a new situation for them 
where they were looked upon as dissenters and where those 
not of their faith were the most prominent in governmental 
and civil life. So they held aloof in a compact way which 
gave them much force and built a church of great extrava- 
gance for the time and a thing of beauty forever. It was 
the outcome of a chm-ch built in 1695 under the ministry 
of the Reverend Mr. Clayton. This was a frame structm-e 
with the bell set in the crotch of a tree nearby. In 1710 
it was enlarged while the Reverend Evan Evans was pas- 
tor and in 1727 the present structure was begun under the 
rectorship of the Reverend Mr. Cummings. This was 
made possible by two lotteries projected by the vestry, the 
tickets for each selling at four dollars apiece. One of them, 
known as the " Philadelphia Steeple Lottery," was drawn 
as late as March, 1753, and paid for the steeple, nearly 
twenty years after the body of the church was built. The 
church was designed by Doctor John Kearsley, an eminent 
physician who directed its building by Robert Smith, 
carpenter. The steeple cost <£2100 and the eight bells 
purchased in England cost £900. They weighed eight 
thousand pounds and were the cause of much favor- 
able comment. When rung the night before market, people 
would go all the way from Germantown to hear the tunes. 
They were rung for the first time at the funeral of Gov- 
ernor Anthony Palmer's wife, the mother of twenty-one 
children, all of whom died with consumption, and the ring- 
ing caused the death of one of the ringers ! On the mitre 
surmounting the steeple, one hundred and ninety-six feet 
eight inches from the ground, is engraved the name of 
Bishop White, the first bishop. 

From the time this " ring of bells," the first in the 
colonies, was first hung, they were kept busy. The bells 

69 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



were always being pealed and the German traveller, Doctor 
Schoepf, says that you would think you were in a papal 
or imperial city from the number of times the bells were 
rung. 

There was probably no man in the city more revered 
and trusted than Bishop White. He was not only a 
churchman of distinction but was prominent in many use- 
ful public endeavours. His hospitality was famous and he 
was fond of good eating, with preferences for mince pies, 
butter and tea. Like many other citizens, the bishop took 
an active interest in the Hand-in-Hand Fire Company 
and he was a Chaplain to the Continental Congress. His 
interest in the College, of which he was a graduate, was 
very great and while sitting upon its Board of Ti*ustees 
he lacked but one vote of being chosen Provost. An inter- 
esting story is told of how " Billy " White and Francis 
Hopkinson cultivated the acquaintance of Benjamin West, 
while studying at the College, how they used to stroll out 
to the sylvan banks of the Schuylkill and read the classics 
to him, so as to give him inspiration for his great talent, 
and how thev, with the connivance of Benjamin Franklin, 
spirited his sweetheart away by a ladder in the night, and 
sent her to him in England, where her brother could not 
interfere with their marriage. 

Judge Francis Hopkinson was for a time organist and 
there is a minute of the vestry directing that only plain 
and familiar tunes be sung and that there be no frequent 
changes. The singer, or clerk, used to stand in the organ 
gallery and make the whole church resound " with his 
strong, deep and grave tones." 

The people of Christ Church from the earliest times 
formed the gayest and most aristocratic set in the city. 
They were the best dressed, arriving for worship in 

70 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



damasks and brocades, velvet breeches and silk stockings, 
powdered hair and periwigs. They came afoot, in chairs 
or in the ponderous coaches of the day, that of Wasliing- 
ton with six cream-coloured steeds adding the final touch 
to the imposing spectacle. As time went on, both the pro- 
prietors and governors added the weight of their influence 
to the Anglican party, in a ceaseless conflict with the 
Quaker Assembly, and the combative little church on 
Second Street held within itself a large proportion of the 
abiHty, energy and learning of Philadelphia. FrankHn 
found the aid he needed for the founding of the " College 
and Academy of Philadelphia " in the Anglican party and 
four-fifths of its first trustees were church members, while 
that ablest of college presidents, the Reverend Doctor 
William Smith, was chosen its first Provost. 

At the southwest corner of Third and Pine Streets is 
the second Episcopal church erected in the city limits. 
This was in the district where many of the best families 
lived and when Christ Chm'ch began to be crowded a re- 
quest was made for another building. This was begun in 
1758 under Dr. Kearsley's care and was opened on Sep- 
tember 4, 1761, by the Reverend Doctor William Smith, 
Provost of the College. Christ Church and St. Peter's 
were called the United Churches and were under one Rec- 
tor until 1836, when the Reverend William H. De Lancey 
became rector of St. Peter's. Later he became Provost 
of the University and Bishop of Western New York. 
St. Paul's on the east side of Third Street below Walnut 
came next and was opened in 1761, three months after 
St. Peter's. 

Two churches now belonging to the Episcopal Church 
but which originally belonged to another sect are old 

71 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Swedes' on Swanson Street and Trinity Church, Oxford, 
on the Second Street Pike. Five years before WiUiam 
Penn started his colony the Swedes worshipped in a log 
building, or block-house, on ground given to the church by 
the widow of Swan Swanson. On the site of this primitive 
chapel they built a brick church in 1700 costing twenty 
thousand Swedish dollars. Poor and few as these earnest 
settlers were, they gave fifteen thousand dollars before the 
first stone was set and left the belfry unfinished, " in order 
to see whether God will bless us so far that we may have 
a bell, and in what manner we can procure it." Thus 
with the simple, sincere faith of children, by whom we are 
told wise men shall be led, the Swedes erected " Gloria 
Dei," which shares with Chi'ist Church to-day the most 
interest of churchly buildings in Philadelphia. 

Trinity Church, Oxford, on the Second Street Pike, 
was once a meeting place for the Quakers in a log building 
where a school was also kept, but in 1698, at the time of the 
Keith schism, it was transfeiTed to the Episcopal Church 
and the present brick building erected in 1711. Its pulpit 
was shared by the rector of the United Churches and of 
the Swedes' Church and we find that energetic man. Doctor 
William Smith, officiating there also. It is more like an 
old English rural parish church than any other in the dio- 
cese and the curious inscriptions on the burial stones are 
well worth inspection. 

Out on the Darby Road is the church of St. James, 
Kingsessing, built in 1760 and united with Gloria Dei until 
1842, and at Radnor is old St. David's, built by the Welsh 
churchmen more than two centuries ago. In the latter 
lies buried the remains of that most romantic of American 
soldiers, Major General Anthony Wayne. 

The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians from the north of Ire- 

72 




'GLORIA DEI," OLD SWEDES' CHURCH. SWANSON STREET, BUILT 1700 




THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN HIGH STREET, BUILT 1794 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



land came to Pennsylvania during several decades prior 
to the Revolution in thousands. Most of them settled 
upon the frontiers, but they gave the peaceable Friends 
enough trouble at the centre of government. They had 
no patience with tolerance, were strong, vigorous and stead- 
fast. They brought a hostile and arrogant spirit to the 
Indians and promptly antagonized them by rough and 
quarrelsome treatment. " Why should these heathens," 
they said, " have lands which Christians want? " In habit 
of thought and life, in doctrine and testimony, they were 
the direct opposite of the Friends, whom they despised. 
Thus in really serious and sustained action they were until 
the Revolution the rival political force of the province. 
The war was three parts out of four a Scotch-Irish move- 
ment in Pennsylvania, says Isaac Sharpless, and we may 
well believe it. The first church of the Presb>i;erians in 
Philadelphia was organized by Francis Makemie in 1692 
among the English, Welsh, Scotch and French settlers of 
that faith who met with a few Baptists in a storehouse 
situated on Second Street at the corner of Chestnut, The 
Reverend John Watts, a Baptist minister of Pennepeck, 
agreed to preach to them every other Sunday, and visiting 
Presbyterian ministers occasionally officiated. In this way 
they worshipped together in peace for three years, until 
the Presbyterians called the Reverend Jebediah Andrews 
from Boston. He arrived in 1698 and soon after the Bap- 
tists withdrew and left Andrews and his flock in sole pos- 
session of the storehouse. In 1704 they built a church on 
the south side of High Street between Second and Third 
Streets. It was surrounded by some fine sycamore trees 
and was called the " Buttonwood Church." Franklin was 
a pew-holder in this church, but so he was in Christ Church 
and the Quakers also claimed him. He has left a statement 

73 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



of his faith so that anyone can decide for liimself where 
he belonged. 

The First Presbyterian Church increased in numbers 
and the building was enlarged twice before 1794 when it 
was taken down and a new and commodious structure built 
of handsome appearance. This was used until 1825, when 
the congregation moved to their present quarters on Wash- 
ington Square. 

In November, 1739, George Whitefield came from 
England to Philadelphia and created a sensation. He was 
eloquent, bold and denunciator}^ and had a fine voice. He 
stirred people to the depths and appealing mostly to the 
senses created a fever of enthusiasm in the quiet town, the 
like of him never before having been heard there. He 
began preaching in Christ Church, but soon all the churches 
were denied to him and he preached from the balcony of 
the court house in High Street, the public squares and the 
fields. Indeed, wherever there was an open place for the 
populace Whitefield gave vent to his controversial preach- 
ing. Finally the people put up a building for him on Fourth 
Street near Arch and this in time became the home of 
the Academy and College of Philadelphia which developed 
into the Universit3^ The Presbyterians used this building 
until 1749, when it was given over wholly to the College, 
and then they erected a church at the northwest corner of 
Third and Arch Streets, with Gilbert Tennent as their 
minister. This became the Second Church and sheltered 
many prominent Philadelphians — such men as Peter S. 
Duponceau, Charles Chaunce3% Thomas Bradford, 
Ebenezer Hazard, Josiah Randall, Thomas Leiper, Isaac 
Snowden, Andrew Bayard, Samuel Stille, Alexander 
Henry and Matthew L. Bevan. The Third Church, or "Old 
Pine Street Church," on Pine Street below Fourth, was 

74 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



first occupied in 1768, although not finished. William Rush, 
James Craig, George Bryan and Samuel Purviance, Jr., 
of the First Church, were the building committee and 
Robert Smith the architect. The Reverend Samuel Aitken 
was the first minister. Among the most prominent Pres- 
byterian ministers of the early time were Francis Allison, 
who was a professor and Vice-Provost of the College, 
and John Ewing, who became Provost of the University. 

After the Baptists stopped meeting with the Presby- 
terians in 1698 they met in Anthony Morris' brew-house, 
under the bank of the river, near Dock Creek. The Phila- 
delphia Church was considered a part of the church at 
Pennepeck and the same pastors supplied both until 1746. 
Evan Morgan, Samuel Jones, Jenkin Jones and William 
Kinnersley were the prominent ministers during this time 
and the Reverend Morgan Edwards who arrived from 
England in 1761 was really their first pastor. He was a 
remarkable man and the prime mover in the establishment 
of the Baptist College in Providence, Rhode Island, now 
Brown Universitj^ The Lutherans had two substantial 
churches in the old city, one in Fifth Street extending 
north toward Appletree Alley and the other at the south- 
east corner of Fourth and Cherry Streets. The first was 
built in 1743 and called St. Michael's, the second in 1766 
and called the Zion Church. 

The Roman Catholics had about as hard a time at home 
as the Quakers and were glad to find a refuge under Penn's 
tolerant government. Even in Philadelphia they were 
compelled to worship quietly so as to give no offense and 
create no disturbance for the Anglican party was prompt 
to protest against them and coupled this with their objec- 
tions to the peace policy of the Quakers. Thus we cannot 
surely tell just where the first place of worship for the 

75 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Roman Catholics was, but St. Joseph's Church in Willing's 
Alley was built in 1733 and this was so carefully tucked 
away that it could give offense to no one. At any rate, 
after that the Catholics did not have to meet in dwelling 
houses and shops bej^ond the city limits for fear of molesta- 
tions by the " Church Party." When Whitefield came 
the breach was widened. " He strikes much at priest- 
craft, and speaks very satirically of Papists," writes James 
Pemberton, an eminent Friend, in 1739, adding with seren- 
ity, " His intentions are good, but he has not yet arrived 
at such perfection as to see so far as he yet may." 

Friends, however, remained calm (a habit they had) 
under the lashing of the Christ Church party which called 
the colony a " nursery of Jesuits " and William Penn " a 
greater Antichrist than Julian the Apostate." St. Joseph's 
was built under Father Greaton and he was succeeded in 
1741 by Reverend Robert Harding, who built St. Mary's 
on Fourth Street below Walnut in 1763. 

Perhaps one of the most distinguished and best loved 
prelates of the Roman Catholic faith in Philadelphia was 
Archbishop James F. Wood, who was born at Second and 
Chestnut Streets in 1813. He had some commercial train- 
ing, after a good education in England and in Philadelphia, 
and brought the finances of his church into such splendid 
shape as to complete the cathedral on Logan Square, which 
Avas dedicated in 1864. It is said that he always claimed 
to be a member of the Society of Friends, saying that it 
was a " society and not a religion." 

The Methodists began in a sail loft on Dock Creek near 
the river in 1768, where Captain Thomas Webb officiated. 
Francis ^Vsbury, whom Wesley had sent, was the apostle of 
Methodism in America and really the first organizer. He 
became their bishop. The first church was named St. 

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I,t rilKUAN ( in l{( H. KU urn AM) CUKKUV STKKKTS, lUll.T 1766 




ST. MAKVS K(1M AN ( ATHOLIC (•HrR( H. FOIKTH STREET ABOVE SPRUCE STREET 

lUlLT 1763 



CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE 



George's and was in Fourth Street near New. Here the 
singing was especially good and the dress of the congrega- 
tion plain. They did not insist upon an educated ministry 
and " Black Harry," who accompanied Mr. Asbury as his 
servant, frequently preached, although he knew not a 
letter. 

Little record of the Hebrews in Philadelphia is found 
prior to the Revolution, although it is supposed they had 
a congregation thirty years before that time. Between 1747 
and 1775 they are believed to have worshipped in a small 
house in Sterling Alley, which ran from Race to Cherry 
Street, between Third and Fourth. 

After that they built a plain brick building in Cherry 
Street, west of Third, which seated about two hundred 
persons. Among the prominent early Hebrew families 
were Gratz, Franks and Saloman. Haym Saloman was a 
remarkable man. A banker from Poland, he was confined 
in a dungeon when the British took New York but escaped 
to Philadelphia and gave valuable assistance to the young 
republic. He negotiated the war securities from France 
and Holland on his own personal security without the 
loss of a cent to the country and required a conmiission of 
only one-quarter of one per cent, for his invaluable services. 

Although the religious controversy of the time was 
spirited in Philadelphia from the beginning, it took the 
form of pamphlets and preachments rather than the riots 
and bloodshed which occurred in some of the other colonies 
and this w^as due to the peaceable principles of the Quakers 
which some of the sects most benefited objected to, and 
to their insistence upon freedom of conscience for every 
man. 



THE MARKET PLACE 




HE Founder of Pennsylvania dis- 
played his wisdom in no greater way 
than in the encouragement he gave 
to the settlement of his province by 
men of sterling worth. In striking 
contrast to the Colonies of the South 
there came to Pennsylvania artisans 
and farmers who were to build a foundation of lasting pros- 
perity. There were no Cavaliers in silks and plumes to 
gi'eet the Proprietor upon his landing at New Castle, but 
we read that there were welcoming shouts from settlers 
in woodland garb, the men in leather breeches and jerkins, 
the women " in skin jackets and linsey petticoats." Penn 
writes that the land is like " the best vales of England 
watered by brooks ; the air, sweet ; the heavens, serene like 
the south of France; the seasons, mild and temperate; 
vegetable productions abundant, the chestnut, walnut, 
plums, muscatel grapes, wheat and other grain ; a variety 
of animals, elk, deer, squirrel, and turkeys weighing forty 
or fifty pounds, water-birds and fish of divers kinds, no 
want of horses; and flowers lovely for colour, greatness, 
figure and variety." 

What golden opportunities are here presented for the 
industrious men who settled in the new country and their 
first association in a common institution was naturally the 
market place. From earliest times the market place has 
been the centre about which the life of the community re- 
volved. Bringing the people together for the necessities 
of life, it has affected their social, religious, political and 
economic life. Indeed, the history of eveny'^ community 
begins at the market place. Philadelphia was no excep- 
tion to the rule and the daily life of the town was focussed 

78 



THE MARKET PLACE 



at the old Provincial Hall in the market place at Second 
and High Streets. Here was the Jail and here were those 
much dreaded but effective instruments of correction — the 
Pillory, Stocks and Whipping Post. Here monarchs on 
their accession were proclaimed, here wars were declared 
and here new Governors from the balcony addressed the 
people over whom they were appointed to rule, and here 
the Royal Arms of England were displayed. Elections 
here took place and here the Provincial Council sat. The 
town bell was kept here, trade regulated and weights and 
measures established. But we are hurrying on too fast. 
Let us see how it all came about and who played the 
parts. 

The High Street, as Market Street was originally 
called, was the familiar name of the principal street in 
nearly every English town. It was so called from the time 
of the Roman invasion of Britain, when they built their 
famous roads by laying stones so that the thoroughfare 
was raised somewhat above its surroundings. But if Phila- 
delphia is indebted to England for the name of High Street 
nearly every American town founded since 1700 is, in 
turn, indebted to Philadelphia for its Market Street, which 
is i3articularly Philadelphian in street nomenclature. This, 
too, was due to the plan of Penn, who, long before his city 
was laid out or settled, had provided a wide High Street, 
where markets could be held on regular days of the week 
under certain restrictions and rules. Before that time no 
city or town in the Colonies had made a like provision for 
its inhabitants. The markets which from very early in 
the city's history were characteristic of the High Street 
caused the inhabitants to refer to the latter as " Market 
Street," just as the Arch over Mulberry Street at Front 
involuntarily led Philadelphians to allude to the street as 

79 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



" Arch." After the consohdation of the city the name of 
the street was changed to conform to usage. 

The earhest recorded date of a market house in Phila- 
delphia is 1683 when " a market place was established 
where butchers have movable stalls." This was at Front 
Street. In 1693 Robert Brett was chosen Clerk of the 
Market by the Councils, fees established of sixpence per 
head for cattle killed, two pence per head for calves and 
lambs, three pence for hogs and nothing for what the coun- 
try people brought ready killed. Fees for the sealing of 
weights and measures were also fixed. In the same year 
rules for the regulation of the markets were drawn up by 
the city fathers. The market was fixed for Wednesdays 
and Saturdays at Second and High Streets and anything 
sold at any other place was forfeited, the returns to go one- 
half to the poor of the city and one-half to the Clerk of 
the ^larket. Xothing was to be sold until the ringing of 
the town bell from six to seven o'clock in the morning from 
April 1st to September, and an hour later during the 
remainder of the year. For the protection of the farmers 
and butchers nothing could be sold on the way to the jNIar- 
ket and no hucksters were allowed to buy or cheapen any 
article until it had been two hours in the market. In 1701 
the duty of the Clerk was " to have assize of bread, wine, 
beer, wood and other things, and to act as regulator of 
weights and measures." 

The importance of the place as a town centre soon be- 
gan to grow and in 1704 a " Watch House," sixteen by 
fourteen feet, was built and the Mayor and a Committee 
of Aldermen appointed to oversee the placing of gravel. 
It seems as if this was the first nuiiiicipal structure and 
its importance is recorded in the following minute of the 
Councils, May 15, 1706: " Whereas the Govr having reed 

80 




HIGH STREET, PRISON. STOCKS AND SHAMBLES 




THE GERMANTOWN MARKET SQUARE 



THE MARKET PLACE 



an Express from the Govr of Maryland of sevall vessells 
lately seen some few legues oiF the Capes of Virginia, and 
two of them chasing and ffiring sevall Shotts at an Eng- 
lish vessell bound to Virginia or Maryland, which are sus- 
pected to be ffrench vessells, and pbable may have a de- 
signe upon some of the Queens Colonies. It is therefore 
ordered that the Watch of this City be carefully kept, and 
that the Constables at their pill take Care of the same, and 
in lease their appeare any show or danger of the Enemy, 
that they give the Alarm by Ringing the Market Bell and 
that every night one of the Aldermen see the Watch set 
and see that two Constables be sett thereupon till further 
orders." 

The accommodations now began to be cramped and in 
November of 1708 a new market house was ordered to be 
built " where the sails stand." Some delay appears and in 
February, 1709, a pillory, stocks and whipping post were 
ordered to be added. To defray the cost of this extrava- 
gance the Council members were to advance the money and 
to be repaid with interest from the rent of stalls. 

Seven Aldermen were ordered to pay double what the 
Common Councilmen do. As this Market House was to be 
of considerable importance, it is interesting to note that 
*' Alderman Masters and Joshua Carpenter are appointed 
to lay out ground and contrive the building." 

By 1710 the building was under roof at the eastern end 
of the old market house on High Street between Second 
and Third Streets. There was to be a market on the 
ground floor and the upper floors to be devoted to public 
use. Built of brick and of two and one-half stories, this 
building is familiar to many Philadelphians by reason of 
the frequent publication of the old print of the " first City 
Hall." It was City Hall, Court House, Town Hall, 

6 81 



EARLY PHILADELPHLV 



State House and meeting place of the IVIunicipal Council 
and Legislature as well as a market house until 1735, when 
the State House was built. From its balcon}^ the early 
Governors delivered their inaugural addresses, the people 
assembled there for the discussion of public questions and 
at one time a speaker addressed an assemblage of six thou- 
sand persons gathered about the building. The structure 
contained open passageways on the first or street floor 
where there were market stalls, the building proper being 
over where the market was held. In 1714 the entertain- 
ment of proclaiming the King cost the JNIaj^or and Alder- 
men thirty pounds and ten shillings. 

The rent of the stalls was only to " ffreemen " at nine 
shillings per annum and meat was to be sold at the west 
end only. When rents were not paid promptly the " Bea- 
dle was ordered to pluck up the stall." 

The city was growing rapidly and in November of 
1718 the building of new stalls was planned. Whereupon 
Thomas Rodman produced a plan which the Councils 
approved. The stalls were to extend west of the Court 
House, to be the same width and ten feet to the " joice." 
The length of two stalls was eighteen feet with a four foot 
alley between them and the next two, the breadth of stall 
and shelter at the back to be each three and a half feet and 
the stalls to begin eight feet from the Court House. A 
fourteen foot walk down the middle, posted at both sides, 
completed the design. Aldermen Norris and Logan offered 
to lend one hundred pounds each for forty-eight stalls. 

The method of building the stalls was debated again 
and again until January, 1720, when Alderman Rodman 
proposed to build thirty stalls with brick pillars three feet 
higher than originally intended and to arch and plaster the 
roof for four hundred pounds. By 1722 the old stalls 

82 



THE MARKET PLACE 



suiFered in comparison with the new and they were ordered 
removed from under the Com-t House and west of the new 
ones. The butchers were put out of the old stalls between 
tlie prison and Court House and they were let for herbs, 
milk, butter and fish, the Cryer giving public notice of this 
edict. The rents were raised to three pounds per annum, 
but all through the records we find much trouble in collect- 
ing the rents and fees. The Clerk's job was no sinecure. 
A curious regulation appears at this time that no person be 
*' suiFered to Smoak Tobacco in the market or Market 
House or in any of the stalls," in harmony with the Act of 
Assembly prohibiting " smoaking " in the streets. A pa- 
ternal government indeed was this! 

A wave of reform and cleanliness seems now to have 
engaged the Council's attention. The killing of animals 
and the leaving of dirt and offal in the market was pro- 
hibited. We wonder now how a shambles could have been 
tolerated in the City's centre for so long a time. Mary 
Whiteker was employed at two shillings a week to sweep 
the Court House and Stalls twice weekly. Although the 
Councils no doubt with the best intentions passed very 
excellent rules, they seem to have been as much disregarded 
as are so many of our present City ordinances. In 1727 
there is much complaint of the hucksters buying up of pro- 
visions and selhng to persons coming to Market so that 
the City ordinance regulating this practice was ordered 
published. In 1730 the killing of meat by the butchers was 
declared a nuisance, although prohibited in 1722. 

The close of the year 1729 marked another important 
period in the enlargement of the Market. In January of 
1730 twenty stalls were ordered built from the Court 
House to the river to begin one hundred feet eastward 
from the stairs of the Court House. This was called the 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



" Jersey Market " and it was customary for farmers to 
come two days a week from the sister Colony to expose 
their produce. A bell was put up at Front Street, and it 
was the custom to have it rung when a boat of produce 
had put in at the wharf. From an early print by Heniy 
Dawkins it is seen that these stalls were open to all 
weathers in 1764. 

INIore objections appear in 1736. Private stalls in front 
of the Court House, selling goods, empty carts and the 
lying of horses in the Market Place were objected to. In 
this year a committee of Councils recommended paving in 
front of the Court House, erecting posts, making new 
" moving stalls " to be covered with painted canvas and 
the exliibition of two sample stalls, all at a cost of 200 
pounds. This was the first paving in the City and here also 
was begun the work of sweeping the City streets. Both 
these suggestions came from Benjamin Franklin. 

In 1740 the middle of the street from the Pillory to 
Laetitia Court was posted or gravelled the breadth of 
twenty feet and new stalls erected from the Court House 
to Laetitia Court. These improvements brought a need for 
more regulations and the Councils declared that the driving 
of carts and carriages through the ^Market Place was dan- 
gerous and ordered chains to be put up to prevent it from 
sunrise to ten o'clock in summer and for an hour longer 
in winter on Market days. So we see the beginnings of 
street paving, street cleaning and traffic regulations to 
have originated in the INIarket Place. 

No doubt the market now was crowded, for merchan- 
dise was definitely excluded and Patrick Baird was com- 
pelled to pay twenty-five pounds per annum for a stall 
under the Court House. 

On ^lay 20, 1745, the residents of the southern part of 

84 




Si:(()M) SlKKll MAUKKT FROM LOMBARD STKEET 




SECOND STREET MARKET FROM PINE STREET 




THE FISH MARKET, FOOT OF HIGH STREET, 1764-1864 




MAKKKP STUEET FROM FRONT STREET, 1709 



THE MARKET PLACE 



the City known as " Society Hill," prayed for permission 
to erect a market on South Second Street from Pine to 
Cedar, as " an ornament and convenience." This section 
of the City known as the " New Market Square " was 
surrounded by the lands of Joseph Wharton, Edward 
Shippen and Samuel Powell and it was the first two who 
proposed to build sixteen stalls on South Second Street, 
eight south of Lombard and eight north of it, to be paid 
for out of the rents. The building which we know at 
Second and Pine Streets was after the design of the Com-t 
House at Second and High Streets, and it constitutes an 
historical evidence of past customs, the last of a type inti- 
mately associated with the early history of the City. It 
is an example of the town hall and market place which 
was the centre of civic life here as in the old world. The 
stone aisle has echoed to the tread of famous people and 
the fairest of Philadelphia's prominent families who lived 
nearby. President and Mrs. Washington, Dolly Madison, 
Stephen Girard, Joseph Bonaparte and other notables 
are said to have frequented the Second Street Market. 

In 1759 the stalls on High Street were extended to 
Third Street and a vault for oil to use in the City lamps 
was built under the Meat Market. This was quite an ex- 
tension and when we realize that the forest began at Eighth 
Street we will understand what a sizable market the 
City had. 

In 1763 repairs were necessary to the Jersey Market 
and stalls with brick pillars were ordered eastward of the 
Court House and forty feet from the line of Second Street, 
to be covered, and at the east end on Front Street at the 
top of the hill a building was to be built for a green market 
and exchange. Five hundred pounds was appropriated 
but the work was deferred until 1769. The terminal at 

85 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Front and High Streets with its architectural dome re- 
mained until all were taken down in 1859. The North 
Second Street ^Market was built about 1763. 

In 1764 a Fish Market was established " between the 
Stone Bridge in Front Street and the Wooden Bridge in 
King Street at the Drawbridge." This was in the middle 
of High Street from Water to the river. The people 
having complained of the offensiveness of shad and her- 
ring their sale was confined to this market and the "Public 
Wharffs." In front of the old London Coffee House, 
which stood at the southwest corner of Front and Market 
Streets until 1883, it was customary for the fishermen to 
erect a Maypole on May Day. They decorated it with 
greens and boughs and bright coloured ribbons. 

The year 1773 brought a demand for further extensions 
both on High and Second Streets. The Councils were 
agreed to go forward with the addition on High Street, 
but the residents on that thoroughfare from Third to 
Fourth Streets arose in protest as one man. They ob- 
jected in a " dignified and gentle address couched in terms 
the least offensive possible " to the further encumbrance 
of the street as lowering their property values and abridg- 
ing their rightful liberties. The Corporation, however, 
resolved to go on, workmen were employed and materials 
collected. The objectors sought legal advice and though 
convinced of their rightful opposition, wishing to avoid a 
disturbance of tranquillity, waited upon the Mayor with 
another petition wliich met a similar fate to that of the 
remonstrance. Now some of the residents hired wagons 
and hauled away the stones intended for pillars and re- 
moved the sand and lime. They destroyed by night what 
the workmen did by day. INIayor William Fisher looked 
on at the proceedings in angry astonishment and some of 

86 



THE MARKET PLACE 



the angry Aldermen gave orders to those who were 
interfering to stop. But the residents were deter- 
mined and had their men continue to remove all mate- 
rial brought there and deposited on a vacant lot in the 
neighbourhood. 

This acute state of affairs continued for almost a week, 
during which time a rough wooden shed erected to store 
lime was demolished. At the end of the peaceful week's 
struggle the Council relented and upon petition of " the 
Society of the People called Quakers " to suspend on 
account of the agitation of the people, the work was de- 
ferred. The troublous times preceding and during the 
Revolution now intervened and the extension of the sheds 
to Fourth Street was not made until 1786. 

Gradually the sheds were pushed westward until in 
1816 they reached Eighth Street and later Thirteenth. 
In 1830 similar sheds were built in High Street from 
Fifteenth to Seventeenth Street. In 1859 all markets 
were removed from the center of High Street, mainly on 
account of the demand for street car tracks, and the Fish 
Market was vacated in 1864. 

As the rapidly expanding needs of the City required, 
market sheds and houses were built on Callowhill and 
Bainbridge Streets. In 1875 Ridge Avenue Farmers' 
Market, below Girard Avenue, opened for business. Octo- 
ber 6, 1877, marked the opening of the New Farmers' 
ISIarket at the northwest corner of Broad Street and 
Columbia Avenue. In 1885 there were Markets at Ninth 
Street and Girard Avenue and on Girard Avenue between 
Sixth and Twelfth Streets. There was one on Broad 
between Chestnut and High Streets. The Mercantile 
Library on Tenth Street north of Chestnut was formerly a 
Market House. Juniper and Race Streets, Fortieth north 

87 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



of JSIarket and South Eleventh Street were other locations 
of markets, and at one time the City owned 49 market 
sheds on as many different streets. 

We are, however, at present concerned with the old 
markets in Colonial days which were so much the centre 
of the City's life. Watson tells us that " Fairs were held 
in the jNIarket Houses, and opened with the same formali- 
ties as the business in our Courts at this time. The Fair 
/^ times were every May and November and lasted for three 
^ days. In them you could purchase every description of 
dry goods, millinery of all kinds, and caps, toys, confec- 
tionery, and so forth. The Stalls were principally and 
fancifully decorated and enclosed with well made patch- 
- work coverlets. The place was always thronged, and your 
ears were perpetually saluted with toy trmnpets, haut- 
boys, fiddles and whistles, to catch the attention of the 
young fiy, who, on such occasions, crowded for their long- 
promised presents at Fair-time. They were finally dis- 
continued by an Act of the Legislature somewhere about 
the year 1787. It is really surprising they should have 
been adopted in any country where regular stores and busi- 
ness is ordinarily found sufficient for all purposes of trade." 
Watson seems to have more regard for the regularity 
than the picturesqueness of life. How dull and humdrum 
life would have been without a little gayety for the people 
who had so little opportunity of amusement in those days ! 
These annual events brought mountebanks, peddlers and 
wanderers from all parts of the country as at no other 
time, to enliven the provincial folk. 

On Tuesday and Friday evenings the citizens were 
apprised of the next day's market by the pealing of Christ 
Church bells which on these occasions were known as the 
" butter bells." The ladies went to IMarket themselves 




CALLOWHILL STREET MARKET 




3k? JJk. _ , 



WASHINGTON MARKET, BAINBRIDGI, SlUEK I 




SPRING GARDEN STREET MARKET 



THE MARKET PLACE 



and at such a time of day as would shock their great- 
granddaughters. One gay gallant from a sister colony, 
having a curiosity to see the justly famous markets, tells 
us that early one morning he jumped from his bed, de- 
signing long before to have been at the Market Place. He 
got there by seven and " had no small satisfaction in seeing 
the pretty Creatures, the Young Ladies traversing the 
place from Stall to Stall, where they could make the best 
Market, some with their maid behind them with a Basket 
to carry home the Purchases. Others that were designed 
to buy but trifles, as a little fresh Butter, a Dish of Green 
Peas or the like, had Good Nature and Humility enough 
to be their own porters." It was the custom for the buyer 
to test the butter before purchasing and the farmers often 
brought in small pja'amids of butter from which people 
could sample the quality. Some of the City's most promi- 
nent men would stop before a stall where butter was dis- 
played for sale, take a coin from their pocket, scoop out an 
edge full and taste it. The sellers encouraged the sampling 
of their wares and would have a spoon or fork with them 
for the purpose. The markets were generally very crowded 
and as there were no side aisles a good deal of difficulty was 
experienced, especially when the women began wearing 
hoop skirts. Then the men had a pretty hard time when 
they came to market. 

The farmers formed a habit of bringing frogs to mar- 
ket, caught in their home ponds. They would stand on 
the curb outside the Market and hold up the frogs for 
sale. The men bought them to frighten the ladies in the 
crowded aisle a little bit and make them fall back so as to 
let the men through. This seemed more genteel and less 
terrifying than the use of mice, which were no doubt as 
available and efficacious. 

89 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



The Clerks of the High Street Market were: 



Robert Brett 1693 

John Andrews 1705 

John Parker 1707 

Joseph Griffin 1707 

Thomas Prior 1708 

David Evens 1712 



Richard Armitt . 
William Paschall. 
James Mackey . . 
Samuel Garrigues 
Judah Foulke . . . 
Joseph Redman . 



1723 
1745 
1753 
1759 
1773 
1776 



Aldermen Carter & Richardson 1713 





17 




22 




(( 




23 




(( 



It is interesting to note some of the early prices as 
recorded in Christopher Marshall's Diary: 

Prices in Continental, Money 1779 
" At Philadelphia " 

June 3 A peck of green peas $38.00 

" " Butter, per pound 7.00 to $10.00 

" 10 Green peas, per peck 10.00 " 15.00 

" " Veal, per pound 5.00 " 7.00 

Coffee, per pound 8.00 

A piece of bobbin 22.00 

Teneriffe wine, per gallon 85.33 

A pair of shoes 120.00 Vg 

An iron bound painted barrel 120.00 

A pound of thread 87.75 

A pair of wagons (at auction) 29.00 

Currants, per pound (at auction) . . . $16.00 

" Tamarinds, per pound (at auction). 20.00 

" White lump sugar, per ft (at auction) 20.00 

27 Figs, per pound 20.00 

" Bohea tea, per pound 80,00 

5 Butter, per pound 12.00 to $18.00 

6 Coarse tape, per yard Ill 

7 A pair of shoes 120.00 

8 Butter, per pound 12.00 " 16.00 

" A quarter of lamb 5.00 

90 



" 24 

1780 
June 24 



July 



THE MARKET PLACE 



Personality has always ruled the world and given dis- 
tinction to the most commonplace events. So perhaps it 
was the persons who managed the old market and those 
who were its most frequent visitors that gave it a large 
part of its character. The minutes of the Council disclose 
names that are synonymous with the early history of the 
city, as among those who were given the care and manage- 
ments of the markets. It was the oversight of such men 
that made the Philadelphia market justly famed and one 
of the important features described in the accounts wi'itten 
by distinguished visitors. We must keep in mind that the 
Market Place was the one civic centre, the one place of all 
public and common endeavour and the seat of authority. 
These are the prominent names of the Aldermen who had 
care of various thino^s about the old market : 



John Redman 
John Parsons 
Abram Bickley 
Edward Shippen 
William Carter 
Joshua Carpenter 
Owen Roberts 
Jonathan Dickinson 
George Clajpool 
John Warder 
William Fishbourne 
James Logan 
Peter Lloyd 
Samuel Powell 
William Plumsted 
Thos. Lawrence 
Israel Pemberton 



George Mifflin 
Benj. Shoemaker 
Jos. Paschall 
Samuel Rhoads 
Thomas Hopkinson 
Robert Stamper 
Henry Harrison 
Wm. Bingham 
Wm. Rush 
Thos. Willing 
Alex. Houston 
Jos. Sims 
John Allen 
Geo. Clymer 
Jos. Wood 
Jos. Shippen, Jr. 
Jno. Wilcocks 



G 



91 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



It may be presumed that the most interested attenders 
were those who hved in the neighbourhood of the Market 
Place and most of these have already been mentioned. 

In Germantown the other market began thus : 

By the Govern^ and Council. 

Whereas the Proprietary and Govern^ by his Charter under 
the Great Seal, did in the year 1689 grant unto the Inhabitants of 
Germantown to Have hold and keep one publick Market every Sixth 
day of the week in such convenient place and manner as the Pro- 
vincial C^harter doth direct, and whereas the said Inhabitants not 
having yet procured any particular place for that purpose, re- 
quested the Govern^ and Council to establish and Confirm that part 
of the Road or Highway where the Cross street of Germantown 
goes down towards Schuylkill for a publick Market to be weekly 
held on the sd. day therein. 

Ordered therefore that the said publick Road or Highway 
where the said Cross street of Germantown goes down towards 
the Schuylkill be an allowed and established Market place and 
that a Market be weekly held the said Sixth day of Every Week 
therein, till such time as the said Inhabitants shall be able to pro- 
cure a place more agreeable and fitt for the purpose. 
Signed by Order 
23 6 mo. 1701 James Logan Sec*^ 

The land referred to in this old letter was not centrally 
located and in 1703-4, the Bailiffs bought a plot nearer the 
centre of the town, of James De La Plaine. This half acre 
was the present ^larket Square on Germantown Road 
between Church Lane (then Luken's Mill Road) and 
School House Lane. Here, of course, was the centre of 
activity in the town. The prison, stocks, public scales and 
fire engine house were here as well as the ^larket. Delega- 
tions of Indians on their way to the City would stop in 
Germantown and were fed at the ^larket Square. Here 
on February 6, 1764, several hundred " Paxtang boys" 
from the banks of the Conestoga and Susquehanna Rivers, 

9i 



THE MARKET PLACE 



then the frontier, on their way to murder the peaceful 
Moravian Indians who had taken shelter in Philadelphia, 
were met by Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Chew, Thomas 
Willing, Joseph Galloway and others and persuaded to 
return to their homes. 

At the end of the Square farthest from the City stood 
an open market house with brick piers, and by its side, 
surmounted by a little white spire, the Fellowship engine 
house wherein was housed the wooden wheeled hand-engine 
brought from England and thought to have been built in 
1734. Beside it stood a large hand-engine of later date, 
and a bucket-wagon filled with leathern buckets and a 
small reel of hose. Upon one corner of the square once 
stood the De La Plaine house, where George Whitefield 
preached from the balcony in 1739 to five thousand people. 
On another stood the Bank of the United States and on 
still another the house of Bronson Alcott, where Louisa 
M. Alcott was born. William Penn preached in Jacob 
Tellner's house, where the Saving Fund Society's Building 
now stands. Count Zinzendorf preached his first and his 
last sermon in the German Church where Washington 
worshipped and the Ninth Virginia Regiment was cap- 
tured and confined there at the time of the battle. 

It was perhaps natural tliat when Washington came 
to Germantown in 1793 and 1794, to escape the yellow 
fever epidemic in the city, that he should reside upon the 
Market Square. He occupied the house of " Honest David 
Deshler," who has been referred to before, the property 
belonging at that time to Colonel Isaac Franks. This was 
a handsome Colonial residence with ample and beautiful 
gardens, all but little changed to-day. After the battle of 
Germantown Sir William Howe occupied the house as his 
headquarters and while there, it is said, was visited by 

93 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Prince William Henry, a midshipman in the Royal Navy, 
afterward King William IV of England. 

Colonel Franks charged Washington $131.56 for the 
use of the house in 1793 and $201.60 in 1794. Here the 
Cabinet of the United States met to discuss important 
matters, and the President was a well kno^vn figure among 
the townspeople as he daily walked abroad. 

In 1804 the property was bought by Elliston and John 
Perot, whom we have also seen as residents of the old 
Market Place on High Street in the City. 

So important a place in the town must needs have a 
tavern and a few feet farther up the Main Street was the 
King of Prussia whose sign represented that monarch on 
horseback, painted by Gilbert Stuart. When German- 
town was the seat of the Xational Government Thomas 
Jefferson lived at the King of Prussia Tavern and enter- 
tained other notables, among them Alexander Hamilton 
and General Hemy Knox. Before Washington was lo- 
cated in the Deshler house the tavern furnished him with 
his dinners, the material for which was procured from the 
market nearby. From this ancient hostelry the first stage 
coach with an awning was run to the George Inn at Second 
and Ai'ch Streets three times a week. 



GOVERNMENT 




HE first Assembly met at Chester, 
December 4, 1682, and then at 
Philadelphia March 12, 1683, prob- 
ably in the " boarded meeting- 
house " which was replaced in 1684 
by the Bank Meeting House on the 
bank of the river. Front Street 
above Arch. Here the Assembly probably convened for 
some years. In 1695 it met in the principal room of 
Richard Whitpain's great house on the east side of Front 
Street between Walnut and Spruce Streets. The next 
year it met at the house of Samuel Carpenter on the west 
side of King (Water) Street above Wahmt, then at Isaac 
Norris' in 1699 and again at the Whitpain house in 1701, 
then owned by Joseph Shippen. With no permanent 
home yet erected they continued to roam and settled next 
in the school room of Thomas Makin, their clerk. After 
this the new Friends' Meeting House on the southwest 
corner of Second and High Streets, which was built in 
1695, was their home until in 1707, when they moved into 
the Court House in the middle of High Street at Second. 
In 1728 they became restive again and requested the Gov- 
ernor and Council to make an order for a meeting place 
most convenient for the despatch of business because of 
" indecencies used toward members of the Assembly " 
where it had been sitting. No doubt the Town House and 
Markets was too public a place and the busy stir of varied 
things and people probably interrupted the grave dehbera- 
tions of the Assembly. The Governor and Council did 
not see fit to grant the request for the Assembly moved to 
the house of Captain Anthony Morris, on Second below 
Walnut Street. 

95 



EARLY PHILADELPHL\ 



In 1729 an act was passed providing for a State House 
and appointing Thomas Lawrence, Andrew Hamilton and 
John Kearsley for the building and carrying out of the 
same. Hamilton and Kearsley both presented designs 
and Lawrence cast the deciding vote for Hamilton's plan. 
The matter was carried to the floor of the House which 
approved the recommendation of the committee and the 
work was begun in 1735 on Chestnut Street where we 
still admire its completion. Hamilton bought the square 
from the Welsh Friends of Radnor Township who had 
received the lots there from Penn to accompany their 
country purchases. 

The whole of the ground between Chestnut and Walnut 
Streets was not taken up at first and the sides on Fifth and 
Sixth Streets extended farther south than did the centre. 
The ground lying to the southward of the building was, 
however, "to be enclosed and remain a public green and 
walk for ever." In this square to-day stand the most inter- 
esting and complete group of Colonial buildings in Amer- 
ica. In importance of association with great events they 
are of course unique. They have been used for many 
sorts of purposes and much has been written about the 
assemblages, events and people of the buildings and 
grounds. Many dinners and balls were given in the new 
building and many notable persons entertained. 

Mayor William Allen seems to have opened the series 
of social events by a feast on the 30th of September, 1736, 
the " most grand and the most elegant entertainment that 
has been made in these parts of America " as described in 
Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette. Governors entertained 
and were dined in the long room or banqueting hall on 
the second floor and the State House seems to have been 
the principal place for such events until September, 1774, 

96 




FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE AND COURT HOUSE, SECOND AND HIGH STREETS 




THE BANK MEKTLXG, FHONT NEAR RACE STREET 




rilK >1ATI'. H()L>K IKOM >1\ I'll NKAK WALM T >TUi;i:r. llii: 



GOVERNMENT 



when the gentlemen of the city gave a dinner for the 
members of the Continental Congress. After that only- 
private dinners took place there. 

After the battle of Germantown many of the wounded 
were cared for in the central building and later on it was 
used by a lodge of Masons and by Peale's Museum. 

In 1799 the State Government removed from Phila- 
delphia after 117 years and the Assembly seem to have 
lost interest in the property. In 1813 indeed they wanted 
to sell it and run a street through it. In 1816 such a bill 
was actually passed but the city intervened at once and 
bought the priceless square for $70,000 with which the 
Capitol at Harrisburg was built. 

When Philadelphia was incorporated on October 25, 
1701, with boundaries from Vine Street to Cedar, now 
South Street, and from river to river, the territory of the 
county was very different in area from the present time. 
The land of the county outside the city was partly known 
as the " liberties " and under much less control. North 
of Vine Street was called the " Northern Liberties," west 
of the Schuylkill River the " Western Liberties," and south 
of Cedar Street the " District of Southwark." 

The settlement of the city did not follow the city hues 
as had been expected but was prompted by commerce. 
Thus, the Delaware River front first became the built- 
up portion and was the base of a triangle, about the middle 
of the eighteenth century, with the apex within the city 
proper but east of Broad Street. 

The first local government outside the city appeared 
in Southwark in 1794 and extended about a mile south of 
the city limit on the Delaware River. The incorporation 
of the local governments was a privilege of the Legislature 
and was not always wisely or honestly done. One by one a 

7 97 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



large number of these independent jurisdictions sprang 
up, such as ]\Ioyamensing, Spring Garden, Kensington, 
Penn, Richmond, West Philadelphia, Belmont and others 
in more outlying districts. As the population increased 
the police control became more and more difficult. The 
conflicting jurisdictions and the limitations of the police 
practicalh^ to their own districts seriously interfered with 
maintaining public order and it was said, indeed, that the 
criminal classes were better informed as to the limits of the 
different districts than many of the officers. Riots and 
general abuse finally moulded public opinion to such an 
extent that the Legislature passed a bill in 1854 which 
welded into one municipality the twenty-eight jurisdictions 
of the City, Southwark, Northern Liberties, Moyamen- 
sing. Spring Garden, Kensington, South Penn, Rich- 
mond, West Philadelphia, Belmont, IVIanayunk, German- 
town, Whitehall, Frankford, Bridesbm*g, Aramingo, 
Passyunk, Blockley, Kingsessing, Roxboro, Penn, Ox- 
ford, Lower Dublin, Delaware, Moreland, Byberry and 
Bristol. 

The first local government outside the City appeared 
in Southwark, named after one of the suburbs of London. 
It lay southeast of the City beyond the boundary of South 
Street and extended about a mile along the Delaware 
River, including the old Swedish settlement of Wicaco. 
It was erected into a municipality in INIay, 1762, and be- 
came a corporation in 1794. 

The Swedes were a peaceable, religious people and 
were anxious to aid the colonists in every way. Penn wrote 
of them, " The Swedes for themselves, deputed Lasse Cock 
to acquaint liim that they would love, serve and obey him 
with all they had, declaring it was the best day they ever 
saw." 

98 



GOVERNMENT 



South war k has always been the home of many indus- 
tries. In Colonial days Wharton's still-house, for dis- 
tilling rum from molasses, was on the wharf near Old 
Swedes' Church and on Front Street was the nitre works 
of William Brown. The first china works, founded by 
Gousse Bonnin and George Anthony Morris in 1769, 
was near Front and Prime Streets. It was the only fac- 
tory making white ware in this country, but did not last 
long. A later enterprise was the Shot Tower founded in 
1808 by Bishop and Sparks at Front and Carpenter 
Streets for the purpose of making shot for sportsmen. 
When the War of 1812 broke out. Bishop, who was a Friend, 
withdrew, but the business was continued for many years. 

Old South wark was the scene of the beginning of 
Mason and Dixon's line, which is perhaps the most men- 
tioned of any boundary line in this country. In 1763 Jere- 
miah Dixon and Charles Mason, two English surveyors, 
were sent out to survey and establish the boundary line 
between Pennsylvania and Maryland which had been the 
cause of frequent controversies and even bloodshed. Their 
first duty was to determine exactly the most southern part 
of Philadelphia, which they decided was " the north wall 
of a house occupied by Thomas Plumsted and Joseph 
Huddle." To find its latitude they built an observatory, 
which was the first structure of the kind ever built in 
America for scientific purposes. It was probably very near 
the Plumsted house which now stands at number 30 South 
Street. They traced their line two hundred and forty-four 
miles until stopped by Indians, so that it was not completed 
until 1782. One hundred and thirty miles of the original 
line were marked with mile stones, every fifth one bearing 
the arms of Lord Baltimore on one side and those of 
William Penn on the other. 



EARLY PHILADELPHLV 



The Mischianza given by the British officers upon the 
departure of General Howe has been frequently described 
but very little has ever been said about its locality except 
that it was at the Wharton place in Southwark. " Walnut 
Grove," the family estate of the Whartons, was situated 
near what is now Fifth and Washington Avenue. The 
original owner was Joseph Wharton, a wealthy cooper, 
who had married Hannah Carpenter, granddaughter of 
Samuel Carpenter, prominent among the early settlers 
as we have seen and the wealthiest man in the colony. 
Shortly after his marriage Joseph Wharton bought from 
Charles Brockden an estate of eighteen acres in Wicaco, 
and upon it, about 1735, built his residence. It was plain 
and comfortable with an unusually large number of rooms 
and the grounds sloped down to the river. Joseph Whar- 
ton was a man of dignified manners and was called " The 
Duke," He had been dead but a short while when the 
British occupied Philadelphia and it is supposed that 
Walnut Grove was empty at the time, otherwise the fes- 
tivities which took place there would not have been counte- 
nanced, as the Whartons were Quakers. 

The district of the Northern Liberties was almost rural 
until well into the nineteenth century. There were no 
wagon pavements in any part of it until about 1840 and 
several streets were not even run. Old Fourth Street was 
the principal street and the oldest. It was called the York 
Road before the Revolution. At the corner of Green 
Street was a famous skating pond. In 1813 Friends built 
a large meeting house at this corner and here were enacted 
many of the stirring events which led to the Separation in 
the Society in 1827. The Hicksite branch had its birth at 
that time in this house and meetings were held twice a 
week there until after the celebration of the one hundredth 

100 






rrfi|I'[ip 








COMMISSIONERS' HALL, DISTRICT OF SPRING GARDEN 




COMMISSIONERS' HALL, DISTRICT OF NORTHERN LIBERTIES 



GOVERNMENT 



anniversary when Friends, having removed from the 
neighbourhood, gave it over for neighbourhood work 
among the foreign population of the district. 

Near Third and Brown Streets was Coates' wood of 
some live acres, cut down by Colonel Coates for pocket 
money when he was young. The Northern Liberty district 
was famous for its rioting and disorder. The ship car- 
penters from Kensington and the butchers from Spring 
Garden used to engage in many a fracas and fighting was 
common every Saturday night. The spirit of unrest and 
disorder in the Northern Liberties found its height in the 
Native American riots of 1844, when the military were 
called out and many lives lost. 




STAGE COACHES AND POST ROADS 

EITHER the Dutch nor the Swedes 
were road-builders, and the Delaware 
River was the only great thorough- 
fare until the settlements began to 
grow back into the country from its 
banks. The first roads were mere 
paths through the woods made by the 
Indians and only pack horses w^ere used for a long time 
for the conveyance of goods. Conestoga wagons came 
in 1760. The marketing going to the city was carried on 
horseback with side panniers and hampers, and most of 
the horses were ridden by women. 

In 1686 the Council appointed a committee to inspect 
all the business of roads and to order them to be laid out 
in the most proper and convenient places. The committee 
and sui'veyors were ordered in that year to lay out a more 
commodious road from the Broad Street in Philadelphia 
to the Falls of the Delaware, where Trenton now stands. 
This road really went out Front Street through Frank- 
ford, Bristol and Trenton as we now know them. During 
the session of the Council in 1697 numerous roads were 
laid out such as from William's Landing on the Delaware 
in Bucks County into the King's Great Road to shorten 
the post-road to New York, the Gray's Ferrj^ Road and 
the Darby Road to Hertford. Perhaps the two best known 
roads were the York Road and the Lancaster Pike. 

The Council was petitioned in 1711 to lay out the York 
Road and the course is described in the order of the Council 
thus: 

To begin at the side of the River Delaware opposite to John 
Reading's landing, from thence by the most direct and convenient 
course to Buckingham meeting house, and from thence the most di- 

102 



STAGE COACHES AND POST ROADS 

rect and convenient course through the lands of Thomas Watson, 
and from thence ye most direct and convenient course to Stephen 
Jenkins on the west side of his house, and from thence the most 
direct and convenient course by the house late of Richard Wall, 
now in possession of George Shoemaker and so forward by the 
most direct and convenient courses to Phila. 

The turnpike from Philadelphia to Lancaster was be- 
gun in 1792 and finished in 1794 at a cost of $465,000. It 
was the first stone turnpike in the Union. 

The roads were very bad until these turnpikes were 
constructed and all farmers commended and used them 
until the benefactors who built them were forgotten and 
they were shunned, leaving the stockholders to get half 
an income. If none had been built the roads would 
have mostly become clay pits and a serious condition 
ensued. 

In July, 1718, a road was ordered laid out between 
Philadelphia and the Wissahickon mills. Part of the 
Ridge Road was made in 1698 for carting lime to the City 
from the kilns at Plymouth. There followed the road from 
Germantown to Perkiomen in 1801, from Cheltenham to 
Willow Grove in 1803, the Chestnut Hill and Spring House 
Turnpike in 1804, the Philadelphia, Bristol and Morris- 
ville road in 1804, the Philadelphia, Brandy wine and New 
London road in 1810, the Perkiomen and Reading Turn- 
pike in 1811, the entire Ridge Road in 1812, and the Spring 
House and Bethlehem Turnpike in 1814. 

Penn established a weekly post route between Phila- 
delphia, Chester and New Castle in 1683 and the letters 
were carried by travellers, traders or special messengers. 
The first public conveyance for passengers was the stage 
between Burlington, New Jersey and Amboy in 1732. 
It connected at Amboy with New York and at Burlington 
with Philadelphia by boat. The stage between Philadel- 

103 



\ 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



phia and New York was not set up until 1756 and made 
the run in three days at two pence a mile. On summer 
daj^s the stages usually made forty miles, but in winter, 
when the snow was deep and the darkness came on early 
in the afternoon, rarely more than twenty-five. At one 
season of the year the traveller was oppressed by the heat 
and half choked by the dust, while at another he could 
scarce keep from freezing. Generally put down at an inn 
about ten at night, cramped and weary, he ate a frugal 
supper and betook himself to bed, with a notice to the 
landlord that he would be called at three the next morning. 
At this time, rain, snow, or fair, he was forced to rise and 
make ready by the light of a horn-lantern or a farthing 
candle for another eighteen-hour ride, when horses were 
changed. Sometimes, too, he was forced to get down and 
lift the coach out of a quagmire or a i-ut. Thomas Twining, 
travelling in America in 1795, says that the wagon in 
which he rode was a long car with four benches holding 
nine passengers and a driver. The light roof was sup- 
ported by eight slender pillars and from it hung three 
leather curtains rolled up at the pleasure of the passengers. 
There was no place for luggage except in front of the pas- 
sengers and no backs to the benches, which made the riding 
very uncomfortable. 

In 1757 a boat left Whitehall wharf in New York on 
Tuesday to the Blazing Star in New Jersey. The pas- 
sengers went thence by stage to New Biimswick, by an- 
other stage to Trenton and by still another to the Sign 
of the George (the St. George and the Dragon) at Second 
and Arch Streets, arriving on Friday afternoon. Another 
route was from the Sign of the Death of the Fox in Straw- 
berry Alley, Philadelphia, to Trenton Ferry, a stage 
through Princeton and New Brunswick to Perth Amboy 

104 




CONESTOGA WAGON, 1790 



_ Q.rr ' V;i" .- • V '\ 7-^ - ' 



CITY RAILWAY CAR ^ 

— ^B n, 2 






AN EARLY TYPE OF STREET CAR 




OLD IRONSIDES, 183? 



STAGE COACHES AND POST ROADS 

and by boat to New York. In 1759 there was a stage 
line set up from Cooper's Ferry, opposite Philadelpliia, 
through Mount Holly and Monmouth County to Sandy 
Hook, thence to Middletown and by boat to New York. 
In 1771 John Barnhill set up a stage called The Flying 
Machine, which made the run in two days and a half. 

The route to Baltimore was by boat to New Castle, 
Delaware, then across the country by stage to the head of 
the Elk River and so by boat to Baltimore. / 

In 1796 there were four daily stages to New York,' 
one to Baltimore and one once or twice a week to Lan- 
caster, Bethlehem, Wilmington, Dover, Harrisburg, Read- 
ing and Easton. The ride to Lancaster took three days 
for the round trip and it took two days to get to Reading. 
The roads to Baltimore were perhaps the worst of many 
bad ones. Chasms ten feet deep were frequent and it 
very often took five days to make the trip. Coaches were 
overturned, passengers killed and horses destroyed so that 
one can easily see how small the world was for the early 
settlers. Sometimes there was no stage for two weeks. 

The first through line of stages to Pittsburgh was in 
August, 1804, and it took seven days to get there. 

Later canal boats were brought by canal through the 
Alleghany Mountains from Pittsburgh to Columbia, then 
by the Pennsylvania Railroad to Philadelphia, entering 
through Fairmount Park. They were taken down Willow 
Street on trucks drawn by horses to warehouses on Dela- 
ware Avenue, where they discharged and loaded their 
freight. 



SQUARES AND PARKS 




^ OLMES' map of 1683 shows Penn's 
design for the five squares which have 
already been referred to. They were 
larger than those we know to-day and 
the two western ones have been 
pushed a little westward toward the 
Schuylkill River. It was originally 
intended that the centre square should be ten acres and the 
others eight, " to be for like uses as the moorfields in Lon- 
don." The Centre Square was planned by Penn to be 
for public uses, for a Meeting House, a State House, a 
Market House and a School House. 

In 1684 Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting of Friends 
decided to build a meeting house of brick in the Centre 
Square, but as it proved inconvenient on account of being 
so far out of town, it was abandoned not long after its 
occupation. The square was without any enclosure for 
more than a hundred years and seems to have been used 
pretty generalh^ for any important public use of the mo- 
ment. As early as 1760 it was leased as a common and a 
race course was constructed with a half mile track where 
gentlemen of the Jockey Club tried their horses against 
each other up to the time of the Revolution. This was 
quite a jump from a Quaker Meeting House to a race 
course but perhaps was one of the incidents of the " Toler- 
ation," for which the Quakers were famous. The Common 
was used as a public hanging ground for the city and 
county and the gallows was a peiTnanent fixture for many 
years until the Centre House for the water works was con- 
structed in 1799. During the Revolution the Common 
was used for a drill ground and in 1783 Count Rocham- 
beau and his army of 6000 Frenchmen encamped there. 

106 




THE FIRST WATER WORKS AT CHESTNUT STREET AND THE SCHUYLKILL 




THE WATER WORKS IN CENTRE SQUARE 



SQUARES AND PARKS 



Thousands of visitors flocked to see the foreigners in their 
white and pink uniforms. After the war General Wayne 
encamped there upon his return from the western expedi- 
tion among the Indians by which he opened the middle west 
for civilization. The miUtia companies of the city took 
delight in drilling in the Centre Square and many a parade 
was held there by the McPherson Blues, Shee's Legion, the 
First Troop, Captain Morrell's Volunteer Green Cavalry, 
the Second Troop and others. These parades which at- 
tracted crowds of people, fairs and the celebration of 
national holidays at last became a nuisance on account of 
gambling and carousals and a determined ci-usade was 
started in Zachariah Poulson's Advertiser against them so 
that Mayor Robert Wharton put a stop to them in 1823. 

The first pumping works to supply the City with water 
were at Chestnut Street on the Schuylkill River, but an- 
other one was finished at Centre Square in January, 1801, 
after a design by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. The house 
had a pillared portico with a dome and was long a conspicu- 
ous object. The grounds were laid out in circular form 
and picketed with a white fence. Grass was planted and 
a fountain erected so that the whole made a very pleasing 
appearance. The fountain was Rush's statue of " Leda 
and the Swan," for which Miss Vanuxem, a famous beauty 
and toast, was the model. The original statue was carved 
in wood and then cast in bronze. It is now in Fairmount 
Park. This house remained after the water works at 
Fairmount were built and was used as a storage place for 
the oil used in the street lamps. In 1829 the name was 
changed to Penn Square and Market and Broad Streets 
run through it. 

The Northeast Square was an open common for many 
years and in 1721 was leased to Ralph Assheton for 21 

107 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



years at forty shillings per annum. He must have quit 
the lease, for in 1741 Thomas Penn, the Proprietor, leased 
the square to the German Reformed Church, John Philip 
Boehm, pastor. They used it for a bm'ial ground mitil 
1801, when the congregation yielded it to the city. During 
the Revolution a powder storage house was built there and 
John ]M. Irwin, auctioneer, had a horse and cattle market 
on the western part. This square also was used for a drill 
ground and had an important place for this purpose during 
the war of 1812. In 1815 it w^as improved, levelled and 
planted with grass. The name was changed to Franklin 
Square in 1825. 

The North West Square was first used for a burying 
ground and for some executions. In 1825 it was improved 
and called Logan Square after James Logan. The great 
Sanitary Fair was held there in 1861 and attracted much 
attention on account of the relief it brought to the wounded 
soldiers. 

The South West Square escaped the fate of the others 
as a burying place and was named after David Ritten- 
house in 1825, when the State House Yard was named 
Independence Square. 

Independence Square was really the first approach to 
a little square or park the city had. A wall of brick 
seven or eight feet high was built around it with a central 
gate on Walnut Street south of the State House door. 
This was fifteen or eighteen feet high, decorated with a 
pediment, cornice, entablature and pilasters. Walks were 
laid out and grass and trees planted. In 1811 the wall was 
removed with the large gateway and a low brick wall, such 
as has been recently placed there, was built three feet 
high, coped with marble. An iron railing surmounted the 
whole. It was in early times a favourite place for town 

108 




WASHINCTON AM) INDI.l'lM H \( 1, StjIARES, 1917 




RITTENHOUSE SQl AKK, I9n 



SQUARES AND PARKS 



meetings and during the Revolution seized as a recruiting 
place. 

South East Square was a perfect square and extended 
about three-fourths of the distance to Spruce Street and 
somewhat beyond Seventh Street, so that the latter was 
shut off entirely". From 1705 to 1795 the square served 
as a burying place for strangers. Hundreds of soldiers of 
the Revolutionary War and victims of the yellow fever 
epidemic of 1793 were interred there. The soldiers were 
buried in unmarked trenches and the sexton told John 
Adams in 1777 that already two thousand had found their 
last resting place in the ground under his care. Its sur- 
face was uneven and a stream from Tenth and Ai'ch 
Streets ran through the northeast corner to Dock Creek. 
Timothy Matlack records that as late as 1745 there was a 
pond where the First Presbyterian Church stands and he 
used to go there to shoot wild ducks. Luxuriant grass 
grew about this well watered ground and it was much 
esteemed for pasturage from the earhest times. The Car- 
penter and Story family had an enclosure of brick in the 
middle where they buried their dead and a huge apple tree 
grew in the centre of it. 

Across the street, at the southeast comer, stood the 
Walnut Street prison of stone, one hundred and eighty- 
four feet on Walnut Street and the ground extending 
south to Prune, now Locust Street. It was used as a prison 
for prisoners of war by both armies during the Revolution 
and was the main city jail until Moyamensing prison was 
erected. After people stopped burying there in 1795 noth- 
ing much was done with the square, although it was pro- 
posed to establish a market there and also the Medical 
School of the University. The coloured people of the City 
found it a favourite place for gathering to sing their native 

109 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



songs and give their wild African dances over the graves 
of the stranger and the soldier. 

The name was changed to Washington Square in 1825 
and George Bridport, artist and engineer, planned the 
park for public use. Trees were planted and the Square 
enclosed with a white paling fence. The attempt to im- 
prove it seems to have succeeded, for a committee of the 
Horticultural Society said of it after an inspection in 1831 
that " The whole is beautifully kept and well illuminated 
at night with reflecting lamps until ten o'clock, all showing 
the correct and liberal spirit of our city." It became the 
object of controversy when the location of the new City 
Hall was planned, but the vote of 1870 was against this 
location. 

The show place of Philadelphia is Fairmount Park. It 
may well be so and here once more we see the wise discern- 
ment of Penn, who wrote to James Logan in 1701 : " My 
eye, though not my heart, is upon Fairmount." This great 
area of more than three thousand four hundred acres, so 
easy of access to the city, has been kept in nearly its natural 
state. Its wooded hills and vales on each side of the 
Schuylkill River are traversed by well kept roads and 
bridle paths which lead out into the country surrounding 
the city so famous for its beauty as a residential section. 
In the early days many important people had their country 
houses on the bluffs overlooking a lovely expanse of river 
and there retired from the city during the smnmer months. 
These fine old Colonial mansions have fortunately been 
preserved through their acquisition by the City for Fair- 
mount Park. A visit to one of them will make one under- 
stand the lure of the place for the old worthies. The two 
finest, perhaps, are Mount Pleasant, built by Captain 
John Macpherson in 1761, and Woodford, built by Judge 

110 



SQUARES AND PARKS 



William Coleman about 1756. Mount Pleasant is a coun- 
try seat of baronial aspect and its occupancy by General 
Benedict Arnold and his bride, Peggy Shippen, gives it a 
romantic interest beyond others. Woodford had for its 
guests important people also and never so many as when 
Rebecca Franks, a famous belle, lived there. There is, 
of course, Ormiston, Laurel Hill, Belmont and Glen Fern. 
Belmont is hardly recognizable as the residence of the cele- 
brated wit and jurist. Judge Richard Peters, first Secre- 
tary of War in the young republic. Glen Fern, away 
up the Wissahickon Valley, was the home of Thomas 
Livezey and nestled in a romantic glen by the banks of the 
stream. It is now used as the home of the Valley Green 
Canoe Club. 

Indeed at one time elegant country seats crowned nearly 
every hill along the river in what is now Fairmount Park 
and the well recorded James in Virginia could not have sur- 
passed the loveliness and charm of the Schuylkill winding 
among rolling highlands on whose summits spacious homes 
of comely dignity sheltered some of the most distinguished 
citizens of the metropolis of the Colonies. The upper 
Wissahickon is still a sylvan wilderness and its romantic 
sceneiy beyond the description of the printed word. Auto- 
mobiles are still refused entrance to its sacred precincts 
and one may walk or ride along the creek between its 
wooded slopes and imagine the city and its turmoil far 
away. 

Fairmount Park grew out of purchases for the enlarge- 
ment of the water works which were suggested by Fred- 
erick GraiF, the engineer of the City Water Works, and 
John Davis in 1810. The plan grew in popularity and 
was achieved by successive gifts and purchases. In 1812 

Councils passed an ordinance selecting Morris Hill for the 

111 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



new reservoir and water works. The committee to carry 
out the project was fortunately composed of men of taste 
and Wilham Rush, the sculptor, contributed figures to 
beautify the Fairmount Gardens which were opened in 
1825 and became the show place of the city. All strangers 
were taken to Fairmount Water Works, which were then 
only five acres in extent but which presented much the same 
appearance as they do to-day. The ordinance of Councils 
creating the Fairmount Park Commission to take over the 
various tracts secured by gift or purchase was passed in 
1867. The great Centennial Exhibition of 1876 was held in 
Fairmount Park and did much to encourage good taste 
in tliis country. Nothing of the kind had ever been held 
on the Continent before and many people came from all 
over the country and from abroad to see it. 

Many newer parks and squares have been added to the 
City's riches in later years and form now a total of more 
than six thousand acres. Many more acres are on the 
City Plan and the spirit of the people is fortunately toward 
this development of health and j oy and light. 



THEATRES 




pN John Smith's manuscript Journal is 
the following entry under date of 
Sixth Month, 22d, 1749: 

" Joseph Morris and I happened in at 
Peacock Bigger's and drank tea there, and 
his daughter being one of the company who 
D were going to hear the tragedy of * Cato ' 
acted, it occasioned some conversation, in which I expressed my 
sorrow that anything of the kind was encouraged." 

From whence this little troop of players came and just 
where they performed is not known but they gave to Phila- 
delphia the honour of seeing the first Shakespearean repre- 
sentation in America. They were managed by Murray 
and Kean and must have found encouragement, for they 
remained until 1750, as is shown by a minute of the Com- 
mon Council on the 8th of January of that year as follows : 

" The Recorder reported that certain persons had lately taken 
upon them to act plays in this City, and, as he was informed, 
intended to make a frequent practice thereof, which, it was to be 
feared, would be attended by very mischievous effects, such as the 
encouragement of idleness and drawing great sums of money from 
weak and inconsiderate persons, who are apt to be fond of that 
kind of entertainment, though the performance be ever so mean 
and contemptible. Whereupon the Board unanimously requested 
the magistrates to take the most effectual measures for suppressing 
this disorder, by sending for the actors and binding them to their 
good behaviour, or by such other means as they should think 
proper." 

And so the players moved on to New York, where they 
played for over a year, and Philadelphia saw no more 
plays until Lewis Hallam's English Company came in 
1754, giving their first performance in the large brick ware- 
house of William Plvmisted, situated in King or Water 

8 113 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Street between Pine and Lombard, where the first company 
is thought to have played. The house extended through 
to Front Street on which there was an entrance by means 
of stairs placed on the outside of the building. The visit 
of these players was not arranged without opposition and 
much printed argument on both sides appeared. Governor 
Hamilton at last granted the license upon the recommen- 
dation of a number of gentlemen of influence and the com- 
pany began after distributing in the streets a pamphlet 
setting forth the hannlessness of their occupation and in- 
tending to stem the tide of popular disapprobation. Its 
imposing title was as follows: 

** Extracts of Several Treatises, 
Wrote by the Prince of Conti, 
With the Sentiments of the Fathers, 
And some of the decrees of the Councils, 

Concerning of Stage Plays. 
Recommended to the Perusal, and Serious 
Consideration of the Professors, of Chris- 
tianity, in the City of Philadelphia." 

A better argument on behalf of the players was the 
alacrity with which they gave the proceeds of one night's 
performance to the Charity School of the newly founded 
Academy, now the University of Pennsylvania. General 
interest, however, was not awakened, as few people cared 
anything about the actor's art. Science was the fashion 
and young men of education were interested in Franklin 
and his discoveries and in the lectures of Professor 
Kinnersley on electricity. Indeed, it was not until the 
English Army of occupation brought gay and graceless 
days to the City that science and lectures played a scantier 
part. 

The opening of Hallam's Company was " The Fair 



THEATRES 



Penitent," followed by a farce, *' Miss in her Teens," 
played before a full house. The temporary theatre was 
neatly fitted up with the glittering motto, " Totius mundus 
agit histrionem " over the stage. The only unpleasant 
occurrence was the summary ejection of an unfriendly 
opponent from the pit. Thirty performances were given 
and the theatre closed on the 24th of June, after a brilliant 
and profitable season. Hallam's Company came back to 
Philadelphia in 1759 and a theatre was built for them at 
Cedar or South and Vernon Streets, on Society Hill, just 
outside the town limits. Religious organizations protested 
and the Assembly passed a bill prohibiting plays, but the 
King repealed it and the theatre was opened June 25, 1759. 
The Company was careful to avoid announcements that 
would displease and generally promised a harmless " Con- 
cert of Music," a moral "Dialogue on the Vice of Gam- 
bling," or any other vice suitable for the occasion. The word 
" play " was always avoided and " Hamlet " and " Jane 
Shore " are described as " moral and instructive Tales." 

Electricity and rectitude triumphed, however, and the 
Company only played one season in the little house. 

An insidious germ was working in the College and in 
1757 Francis Hopkinson tells us that " Ever since the 
Foundation of the College and Academy in this City the 
Improvement of the Youth in Oratory and correct Speak- 
ing, has always been considered as an essential Branch of 
their Education." He tells us of the success that has 
attended the oratorical exercises, the youth having " de- 
hvered proper Speeches " and acted parts before large 
audiences. The development was rapid and soon a whole 
dramatic piece was demanded. This laudable ambition 
was encouraged by the Professors as an easier method of 
teaching pronunciation. They had some difficulty, we 

115 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



find, in choosing an " English Performance " which would 
include a large number of speakers, exalt the sentiments, 
engage the passions and better the hearts of the youth. 
The " Masque of Alfred," by Mr. Thompson and Mr. 
Mallet was chosen, representing the redemption of Eng- 
land from the cruelties of the Danish invasion and was 
adapted by Mr. Hopkinson so as to eliminate the female 
parts and put their words into other mouths. Hymns, 
" Pieces of Music " and A Prologue and Epilogue were 
added by Mr. Hopkinson and the whole presented several 
times during the Christmas Holidays of 1756 in one of the 
apartments of the College " as an Oratorical Exercise, by 
a Sett of young Gentlemen." Mr. Hopkinson says the 
town was entertained, there were crowded, discerning and 
applauding audiences and each speaker, young and old, 
" acquired Honor in his Part." It was repeated in Janu- 
ary, 1757, before Lord Loudon and the Governors of sev- 
eral of the Colonies who were in Philadelphia consulting 
upon plans for conmion resistance to the Indians who were 
then ravaging the western frontiers. 

It was this performance which inspired Thomas 
Godfrey, Jr., to ^vi-ite the first American play ever publicly 
acted in the Colonies. It was a strictly moral drama en- 
titled the " Prince of Parthia," and was produced on the 
24th of April, 1767, by Hallam's Company, who returned 
in 1766 to occupy a new theatre built for them at South 
and Apollo Streets and opened on the 12th of November 
in that year. This theatre was called the Southwark 
Theatre and Hallam was as much the soul of it as ever 
Garrick was of Drury Lane. His " American Company " 
performed in the Southwark Theatre during the winters of 
1768, '69, '70, '72 and '73. During the last season the second 
original American drama ever performed on the stage — 

116 




SOUTHWARK THEATRE, SOUTH AND APOLLO STREETS, 1766 




THE WALNUT STREET THEATRE, AT NINTH STREET, 1811 
The Oldest Existing Theatre in America 




CHESTNUT STREET THEATRE ABOVE SIXTH 






i;i«i-r^^'''''^.ili 




SECOND CHESTNUT S'lUKKI THKATHK. XH'ii 



THEATRES 



"The Conquest of Canada; or the Siege of Quebec" — 
was produced. Soldiers from the barracks and sailors from 
the King's ships in port gave great effect to the play. 

Now came on the troublous times and Congress by 
resolution in 1774 discouraged all extravagance, dissipa- 
tion, shows, plays and expensive diversions, as well they 
might for the little country needed all its treasure and its 
energy in the tremendous crisis confronting it. 

While the British Army occupied the City during 
1777-78 the English officers gave all sorts of theatricals 
in the theatre and Philadelphians found out how delightful 
it was to be amused. The officers of General Howe's staff 
did the acting and gave the proceeds to the widows and 
orphans of the soldiers. Major Andre and Captain 
DeLancey were the comedians, scene-painters, costumers, 
and property men. The famous drop-curtain painted by 
Andre, representing a waterfall in a forest glade, is always 
mentioned in contemporary accounts and was used for 
years until lost in the burning of the Theatre in 1821. The 
Continental Army, not to be outdone, on its return in 1778, 
produced a company of actors whose names are now un- 
known but who gave some performances in the Southwark 
Theatre in September and October. 

Congress soon renewed its restrictions and was backed 
up by the Pennsylvania Legislatui'e so that we find no 
activity until 1785, when Hallam opened the Theatre for 
miscellaneous entertainments and singing which soon in- 
cluded parts of plays. The industrious and indefatigable 
Hallam persisted in finding subterfuges by which he and 
his players could evade the law and amuse the Philadel- 
phians. Returning in June, 1789, he opened the " Opera- 
House, Southwark," with a *' concert, vocal and instru- 
mental," in which he boldly introduced " The Grateful 

117 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Ward; or the Pupil in Love," and " The Poor Soldier," 
all for the relief of the American captives in Algiers! 

Hallam's persistence and evasion of the law brought a 
crisis in 1789 when a petition signed by 1900 persons was 
presented to the Legislature asking for the repeal of the 
law. A remonstrance came at once headed by all the 
Protestant Ministers in the City and several elders of the 
Society of Friends. The friends of the theatre were none 
the less active and a committee consisting of Dr. Robert 
Bass, General Walter Stewart, Dr. John Redman, Major 
INIoore, John Barclay, William Temple Franklin, Jacob 
Barge and William West acted for " The Dramatic Asso- 
ciation." Every means was used to ascertain public opin- 
ion and it was finally determined that 6000 citizens had 
signed the petition for the theatre and 4000 against it. 
The restrictions were accordingly repealed and licenses 
for three years authorized. 

Hallam and Henry immediately opened the Southwark 
Theatre with " The Rivals " and '' The Critic " followed, 
during the season, by four American plays. The Theatre 
was fashionable and the return of Congress insured a good 
attendance. Its popularity was greatly enhanced by the 
patronage of the President which is thus described : 

" The last stage-box in the South Street Theatre was fitted 
up expressly for the reception of Gen. Washington. Over the 
front of the box was the United States coat of arms. Red 
drapery was gracefully festooned in the interior and about the 
exterior. The seats and front were cushioned. IVIr. Wignell, in 
a full dress of black, hair powdered and adjusted to the formal 
fashion of the day, with two silver candlesticks and wax candles, 
would tluis await the General's arrival at the box-door entrance, 
and, with great refinement of address and courtly manners, con- 
duct this best of public men and suite to his box. A guard of the 
military attended. A soldier was generally posted at each stage- 

118 



THEATRES 



door, and four were posted in the gallery, assisted by the high 
constable of the City and other police officers, to preserve some- 
thing like decorum among the sons of social liberty ..." 

This was surely not too much dignity or care to take 
of so great a man and so exalted a position and we may 
hope that the " Sons of Social Liberty " did not insist upon 
sharing the box. 

The year 1794 was the last season for the old theatre 
as a place of fashion, as the building was outdone in 
accommodations by the new Chestnut Street Theatre. A 
forbidding appearance within and without, oil lamps with- 
out glasses and pillars were obstacles which could not com- 
pete with the improvements of the new house, which had 
two rows of boxes and a gallery above, supported by fluted 
Corinthian columns highly gilt with a crimson ribbon 
twisted from base to capital. The tops of the boxes were 
decorated with crimson drapery and the panels were of rose 
colour, adorned with gilding. The old theatre struggled 
along until the last performance there on the 7th of June, 
1817, when Higgins and Barnard opened it for a few nights 
in the tragedy of " Manuel." It was destroyed by fire on 
the 9th of May, 1821, but its walls remained to house a 
distillery until a few years ago. 

The Chestnut Street Theatre opened on the 17th of 
February, 1794, although thought to have been started in 
1791. It was situated above Sixth Street and held about 
2000 people. Thomas Wignell of the old American Com- 
pany was at the head of the strong company. It was here 
that Joseph Jefferson, the elder, made his first appearance 
in Philadelphia in 1803. The company contained many 
able singers and the operas gave as much satisfaction as the 
comedies. The first interruption came on Easter Sunday 
night, April 2, 1820, when fire destroyed the building and 

119 



EARLY PHILADELPHL\ 



its contents. The stockliolders, however, immediately set 
to work to rebuild, and William Strickland, an able archi- 
tect, had the new theatre ready for the opening on the 2d 
of December, 1822, with " The School for Scandal." The 
two figures Tragedy and Comedy by Rush were saved from 
the old building and placed in the niches of the wings in the 
new structure. Here Booth made his appearance on Feb- 
ruary 17, 1823, unknown and it appears with little success. 

There was a theatre on Prune Street, now Locust, be- 
tween Fifth and Sixth, in 1820, which ran for two seasons 
with success. It was called the Winter Tivoli Theatre and 
was owned by Stanislaus Surin, manager of the Tivoli 
Garden. Charles S. Porter took it in 1822 and called it the 
City Theatre, but it only ran one year. The Walnut Street 
Theatre, oldest in America at the present time, was fitted 
up in 1811 by Pepin and Breschard, who combined stage 
and ring performances in what they had built for a circus. 
This theatre had only a moderate success for a while but its 
first season is memorable on account of the appearance on 
the 27th of November of " a young gentleman of this city " 
as Young Norval. This was no other than ]Master Edwin 
Forrest, who was bom at Number 51 George Street and 
was then fourteen years of age. It was here also in 1871 
that he made his last appearance in Philadelphia. Two 
days after Forrest's appearance, Edmund Kean played 
Richard III at the Walnut Street Theatre. 

We cannot recount here all of tlie plays and players 
that amused Philadelphia during the early days nor even 
present a hst of all the theatres. From 1799 to 1871, 
nineteen theatres, circuses and nmseums were destroyed 
by fire, being over one-third of the total number of such 
places opened during that period, and it is a remarkable 
fact that there was no loss of life among the audiences. 



THE OLD TAVERNS 




T is a great leap of the imagination to 
picture the old inns of the City. We 
are so used to the luxui'ious appoint- 
ments and spacious dimensions of our 
present hotels that we can hardly com- 
prehend the little Blue Anchor Tavern 
twelve by twenty-two feet and of two 
stories, which was equally popular in its day. These early 
inns accommodated man and beast and the jolly landlord 
and bright-eyed barmaid were a large part of their attrac- 
tions. The table was clean and groaned under a weight 
of wholesome viands. Hot punch or a tankard of foaming 
ale in a cosy corner of the tap room or before a roaring fire 
were features which we can perhaps count a loss to-day. 
The healthy out-door life of our ancestors did not call for a 
varied menu with French names or wines with high sound- 
ing titles. The beds were hard but clean in small rooms 
with bare floors, white-washed walls and small windows 
with plain curtains. Men frequented the taverns to meet 
their neighbours and discuss the news and business of the 
day, while enjoying a quiet glass or pipe. The large influx 
of immigrants and the continued stream of strangers in the 
early days caused the setting up of a great number of 
taverns in Philadelphia. These people had to be provided 
for as well as a substitute for our present clubs and busi- 
ness exchanges. It was a paying business and many 
embarked in it. Complaints were made in the Councils and 
public prints of the nuisances of intemperance, but not 
more, indeed not as many, as might have been expected 
in a time of hard drinking. Many important events and 
illustrious personages are connected with the old inns and 
not a little of early history was made in them. Their quaint 

121 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



signs and rhymed sentiments awaken many interesting 
memories. 

As Penn came up the river from Chester in a barge he 
was much attracted by the " low and sandy beach " at the 
mouth of the once beautiful and rural Dock Creek. The 
little party came to the shore by the side of Guest's new 
house, then in a state of building, which appropriately 
enough was to become an inn, known in the earliest records 
as ** The Blue Anchor Tavern." All the earliest keepers 
of the inn were Friends; Guest, Reese Price, Peter 
Howard and Benjamin Humphries. It was in front of 
this inn that Penn is said to have mingled most intimately 
with the Indians, at once introducing himself and ingratiat- 
ing himself into their confidence. He walked with them, 
sat down on the ground with them and ate their roasted 
acorns and hominy. Soon they jumped up and leaped 
about in an expression of joy and satisfaction. Penn had 
been an athlete of no mean repute while at Oxford and 
was now only 38, so that he was able to beat them all at 
their exercises and thus gain another point in their admira- 
tion. This incident recalls that some Friends thought 
William was too prone to cheerfulness and gayety for a 
grave " public Friend." 

The Blue Anchor Tavern became, as so many of the 
later inns also did, of much consequence as a place of busi- 
ness. It was the key to the City and really at first the 
only public building. Vessels with building timber from 
Jersey, where the earlier settlers had set up mills, or with 
traffic from New England, made a landing at Dock Creek 
where was the only public wharf. Here was the public 
ferry where people were put over to Society Hill before 
the bridge at Front Street was built, and to Windmill 
Island in the Delaware and Jersey farther on. The Blue 

122 




THE PENNY POT HOUSE, AT VINE STREET 




CLARK'S INN, OPPOSITE THE STATE HOUSE 




*•" f^?.. y,^,.. -. ... iy O. ■' >i'lf > 

THE CROSS KEYS INN, AT FOURTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS 




THE LONDON COFFEE HOUSE, AT SE( UND AND lUi.ll >rUl.l.lS 



THE OLD TAVERNS 



Anchor Tavern is supposed to have been the first house 
built in Philadelphia and the furthest advanced upon 
Penn's arrival. Some of its timbers were thought to have 
come over in the first ships as were those of other houses, to 
expedite the building. The structure was timbered, filled 
in with small bricks and had the dimensions of twelve by 
twenty-two feet with a ceiling of about eight and a half 
feet in height. It was situated at what is now the north- 
west corner of Front and Dock Streets and was subse- 
quently called the " Boatman and Call." The present 
Blue Anchor Tavern near this spot is the third of the name. 

The Penny Pot House and Landing at Vine Street was 
on land ordained by Penn in 1701 to be " left open and 
common for the use of the City." It was famed for its 
beer at a penny a pot and was a two-story brick house of 
good dimensions. Vine Street lay along a vale and was 
first called Valley Street, where it was not so difficult to 
land lumber or goods. So as in the case of the Blue Anchor 
Tavern this became a " port of entry " and an advanta- 
geous location for an inn. The roads about it, however, 
presented a different condition than the river and were 
almost impassable. The Council frequently protested 
against their dangerous condition in early times. The 
Penny Pot House stood well into the nineteenth century 
and went by the name of the " Jolly Tar Inn." 

It was in the Old London Coffee House that much of 
the early business was done. This picturesque old building, 
which was removed about 1883, was built in 1702. It stood 
on a part of property patented by Penn to his daughter 
Letitia in 1701. She sold the corner of Second and High 
Streets to Charles Reed, who erected the building. At 
the death of Reed his widow conveyed it to Israel Pem- 
berton, a wealthy Quaker, who willed it to his son John 

123 



EARLY PHILADELPHLV 



in 1751. In 1754 William Bradford, grandson of the first 
printer of that name, removed his print shop from Second 
Street next door to the old house which he opened as a 
house of entertainment. Under his management it became 
the busiest place in the City. It was a kind of Merchants' 
Exchange, and at times, it is said, slaves were sold before 
its doors. Gifford Dailey had it in 1780, but after a time 
the owner, John Pemberton, prohibited the dispensing of 
strong drink there and let the building to John Stokes 
to be used as a dwelling. During the sessions of the Con- 
tinental Congress and during the British occupation the 
London Coffee House was the centre of much gayety and 
entertainment by prominent men. Colonel Eleazor 
Oswald, a gallant artillery officer of the Revolution, suc- 
ceeded Dailey as host and next door published the " Inde- 
pendent Gazeteer " and the " Chronicle of Freedom." 
When John Pemberton died the property went to the 
Pleasant family and in 1796 was sold to Stokes. Bradford's 
petition to the Governor for a license shows that coffee 
was ordinarily dnmk as a refreshment then as spiritous 
liquors are now. Indeed the petition mentions briefly and 
merely casually that there may sometimes be occasion to 
furnish other liquors besides coffee. The house was long 
the centre of attraction for genteel strangers and the Gov- 
ernor as well as other persons of note, ordinarily went 
at set hours to sip their coffee and some of these had their 
known stalls. The general parade was in front of the house 
under a shed of common construction and as it was the most 
public place adjacent to the market, the people brouglit all 
sales of horses, caiTiages, groceries and other goods there. 
It was a sort of bourse or clearing house for trade. Pem- 
berton required the Proprietor to preserv^e decency, pre- 
vent profane words, close it on the Sabbath and prevent 

124 



THE OLD TAVERNS 



card playing, dicing and backgammon. For such con- 
ditions to prevail in the principal public house of the City 
was an indication of the marked moral feelings of the town. 
" The Pennsylvania Journal " of January 31, 1760, con- 
tained this : 

Notice is hereby given that I, John Cisty, being employed by a 
number of gentlemen, intend to ride as a Messenger between 
Baltimore town in Maryland and Pliiladelphia, once a Fortnight 
during the Winter and once a Week in Summer. Any Gentleman 
having letters to send, then by leaving them at the London Coffee 
House, may depend they shall be called for by their humble servant, 

John Cisty. 

There was an earlier " London Coffee House " of less 
success built by Samuel Carpenter upon some of the ground 
near Walnut and Front Streets and kept by his brother 
Joseph. Here the ship captains and merchants congre- 
gated to discuss the commercial and political news. 

On Chestnut Street opposite the State House stood 
Clark's Inn with its sign the " Coach and Horses." It 
was rough-cast, of two stories and bore the date mark of 
1693. In front the little space to the road was filled with 
bleached oyster shells so that it looked like a sea-beach 
tavern. It was an " out-town " tavern in Penn's days and 
the Founder himself frequently refreshed himself on the 
porch with a pipe for which he paid a penny. The inn- 
keeper was noted for his cooked meat prepared by dogs! 
As cooking time approached it was no uncommon thing 
to see the cooks running about the streets looking for their 
truant labourers. These little bow-legged dogs were trained 
to run in a hollow cylinder, like squirrels, and so give the 
impulse to the turn- jack which kept the meat in motion 
suspended before the kitchen fire. Here was the last 

lis. 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



vestige of the noble forest of primitive days. A fine grove 
of walnut trees remained to serve as distant pointers to 
guide the strangers to the State House, itself beyond the 
verge of common population. This little inn for a long 
time gave all the entertainments to the Court-suitors and 
the hangers-on of the Colonial Assemblies and early Con- 
gress. After the Revolution it was known as the " Half 
Moon," kept by Mr. Hassell, whose only daughter Norah, 
" passing fair," was part of the attraction. The location 
of the house gave it an unusual distinction through the 
patronage of Governors, Assemblymen, Judges and 
patriots. 

Enoch Story's Inn at the sign of the Pewter Platter 
was the scene of many a revel by the young bloods of the 
town. Here young William Penn, Jr., and his companions 
got into the fight which led to their being presented by the 
Grand Jury. It was at Front Street and Jones' Alley, 
but poor Jones soon lost the distinction on account of the 
prominence of the inn and oddity of the sign. 

The Crooked Billet Inn, on the wharf above Chestnut 
Street, was the first house entered by Benjamin Franklin 
in 1723, but he gave more distinction to the Indian King 
Tavern, in High Street near Third, when he selected it as 
the meeting place of the Junto. Aftenvard it met in 
Robert Grace's house, in Jones' Alley, west from 14 North 
Front Street. 

Mrs. Jones' Three Crowns Tavern in Second Street 
and Mrs. ^lullen's Beefsteak House on the east side of 
Water Street were famous for their table and entertained 
many Governors. Governor Hamilton held his Governor's 
Club at ^Irs. Mullen's and the Free Masons and other 
societies had their meetings there. 

The successor to the London Coffee House was the 

126 




THE SPREAD EAGLE INN, ON LANCASTER PIKE NEAR THE NOW STRAFFORD 




1111 Kl,\( k llOl!-l, INN. .-l.< (INI» NI;AK I A l.l.i »\\ HILL, 1917 
Extant 1917 



THE OLD TAVERNS 



City Tavern, finished in 1773, in Second Street near Wal- 
nut. Here Monsieur Gerard, the first accredited repre- 
sentative of France to the United States, gave his grand 
entertainment in honour of Louis XVI 's birthday. 

Harry Epple's Inn, in Race Street, was a fashionable 
resort during the Revolutionary period and an Assembly 
Ball was given there. Washington and Louis Philippe 
d'Orleans were guests there. 

St. George and the Dragon, better known as the 
George Inn, at the corner of Second and Mulberry, now 
Arch Street, was the stopping place of the New York and 
Baltimore stage coaches. It was appropriately kept by 
John Inskeep, at one time Mayor of the City. 

At frequent intervals on the roads, houses of public 
entertainment served for the places where elections were 
held and for neighbourhood merry-making. It was around 
them that homes were built, the villages being frequently 
known by the tavern sign until they were large enough to 
have a name of their own. In early times travellers secured 
entertainment at private houses and an account of John 
Gait in 1738 tells us that in the houses of the principal 
families in the country, unlimited hospitality formed a part 
of their regular economy. He says, " It was the custom 
of those who resided near the highways, after supper and 
the religious exercises of the evening, to make a large fire 
in the hall, and to set out a table with refreshments for 
such travellers as might have occasion to pass during the 
night; and when the families assembled in the morning 
they seldom found that their tables had been unvisited." 

William Hartley of Chester County in 1740 petitioned 
for a license because his house is " continually infested with 
travellers who call for and demand necessaries, and that he 
has been at great charges in supplying them with bedding 



127 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



and their horses with proper provender without any pay- 
ment." 

And so we might run on for many pages with a recital 
of more or less important houses with picturesque names, 
all of which have now disappeared, except the Black Horse 
on Second Street, near Callowhill. It is hardly recogniza- 
ble as an inn on the front, but the arched entrance leads 
into the old yard which still suggests to us the busy times 
of its ancient history. The Black Horse goes back to 
1785 at least. Even as late as 1845 it was a common thing 
to see teamsters and farmers take their beds and lodge on 
the floors. AVilHam J. Buck says he has seen frequently as 
many as one hundred lie down in that way. In 1805 two 
live porpoises were exhibited at the Black Horse and the 
following year the learned African Horse " Spotie," which 
had a tail like an elephant's and a knowledge of arithmetic. 
The same year two royal tigers from Surat in Asia and a 
living sea-dog, taken on the Delaware River near Trenton, 
w^ere shown. 



THE LIBRARY COMPANY 




? LL the world knows that one cannot 
go far in the history of Philadel- 
phia without encountering Benjamin 
Franklin. He seems to be at one's 
elbow ever afterward or gazing stead- 
fastly, calmly and half humorously 
into one's eyes at every turn. So 
much has been written about every side of his character and 
endeavour, and indeed much would have to be written to 
cover them, that this book cannot enlarge upon these most 
interesting and instructive subjects but only make the 
suggestions which are necessary. 

A club which Franklin formed in 1728 for the mutual 
improvement of its members marked the birth of learning 
in the Province, for out of it, directly and indirectly, came 
most of its useful institutions. This was the Junto, some- 
times called the " Leathern- Apron Club." Into it he 
" formed most of his ingenious acquaintance " of no ele- 
vated origin, who met on Friday evenings first at a tavern 
but afterwards at the house of Robert Grace, near Second 
and High Streets in Jones' Alley. Every member in his 
turn was required to " produce one or more queries on any 
point of morals, politics, or natural philosophy, to be dis- 
cussed by the company," with an essay from each once in 
three weeks. No better idea of their doings can be written 
than that to be gained from their rules, which were not 
dogmatic like a constitution and by-laws. They were queries 
which were read at the opening of the meetings: 

Have you read over these queries this morning in order to 
consider what you might have to offer the Junto touching any 
one of them? Viz: — 

1. Have you met with anything in the author you last read, 
9 129 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



remarkable or suitable to be communicated to the Junto, particu- 
larly in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels, mechanic arts, 
or other parts of knowledge? 

2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling 
in conversation? 

3. Hath any citizen in j^our knowledge, failed in his business 
lately, and what have you heard of the cause? 

4. Have 3'ou lately heard of any citizens thriving well, and 
by what means? 

5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or 
elsewhere, got his estate? 

6. Do you know of a fellow-citizen who has lately done a worthy 
action deserving praise and imitation, or who has lately committed 
an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid? 

7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately ob- 
served or heard, of imprudence, of passion, or of any other vice 
or folly? 

8. What happy effects of temperance, of prudence, of modera- 
tion, or any other virtue? 

9. Have you, or any of your acquaintance, been lately sick or 
wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their 
effects ? 

10. W^hom do you know that are shortly going on voyages or 
journeys, if one should have occasion to send by them? 

11. Do you think of any thing at present in which the Junto 
may be serviceable to mankind, to their country, to their friends, 
or to themselves? 

12. Hiith any deserving stranger arrived in town since last 
meeting, that a'ou have heard of? And what have you heard or 
obser^'cd of his character or merits? And whether, think you, it 
lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as 
he deserves? 

13. Do 3'ou know of any young beginner lately set up, whom 
it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage? 

14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your 
country, of which it would be proper to move the Legislature for 
BJi amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is 
wanting? 

ISO 



THE LIBRARY COMPANY 



15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just 
liberties of the people? 

16. Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? And 
what can the Junto do towards securing it? 

17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which 
the Junto, or any part of them, can procure for you? 

18. Have you lately heard any member's character attacked, 
and how have you defended it? 

19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power 
of the Junto to procure redress? 

20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of themi, assist you 
in any of your honourable designs? 

21. Have you any weighty affair on hand in which you think 
the advice of the Junto may be of service? 

22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not 
present ? 

23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice and 
injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time? 

24. Do you see anything amiss in the present customs or pro- 
ceedings of the Junto which might be amended? 

A pretty wide range were these of intelligence office, 
star chamber, gossip club and business protective union. 
The members were required to declare that they respected 
each member, loved mankind in general, believed in free- 
dom of opinion and loved truth for truth's sake. The 
original members were Benjamin Franklin, Hugh Mere- 
dith, Joseph Brientnall, Thomas Godfrey, Nicholas Scull, 
William Parsons, William Maugi'idge, Stephen Potts, 
George Webb, Robert Grace and William Coleman. 

It was hard to join and not very solemn at first, had a 
song or two, an anniversary banquet, and many picnic 
meetings in rural places " for bodily exercise." During 
its forty years of existence it was never very large. 
Franklin mentions only eleven persons and Roberts Vaux 
has added about a dozen more names to the list — all re- 

131 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



spectable but few of any special prominence. It was influ- 
ential, prosperous, popular and profitable from the start. 

About 1730 Franklin proposed, since their books were 
often needed in their meetings, that they should bring them 
all together, so that they might be consulted and used as a 
library by the members. So three little bookcases were 
fitted up in the small room in Jones' Alley and a few books 
put into them. Constant handling and little care soon 
caused dissatisfaction and each member took liis books 
home. Nothing daunted, however, Franklin went on and 
proposed that the Junto procure fifty subscribers of forty 
shillings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for 
fifty years, to start a subscription library. As the sub- 
scriptions came slowly twenty-five were held to be enough 
and when forty-five pounds was in hand the Librarj- Com- 
pany determined to send to England for books, commis- 
sioning James Logan to select them. 

The instrument of association was dated July 1, 1731, 
and the first directors w^ere Benjamin Franklin, Thomas 
Hopkinson, William Parsons, Philip Syng, Jr., Thomas 
Godfrey, Anthony Nicholas, Thomas Cadwalader, John 
Jones, Jr., Robert Grace and Isaac Penington. William 
Coleman was elected Treasurer and Joseph Brientnall, 
secretary, and thus originated the " Library Company of 
Philadelphia," the mother of all North American subscrip- 
tion libraries. 

The books were first kept in Robert Grace's house from 
which those who had signed the articles of association were 
allowed to take them home " into the bosom of private 
families." Grace's house was on the north side of High 
Street below ^Second, nearly opposite the town hall. It was 
one of the oldest brick houses in the city and had an arched 
carriage-way in the rear upon Jones' Alley, or Pe^vter 
Platter Alley, as it was later called on account of the popu- 

132 



THE LIBRARY COMPANY 



lar inn of that name situated upon it. It was through this 
rear archway that the members of the Junto and the 
Library Company entered so as not to disturb the inmates 
of the house. 

The collection remained here for ten years and was in 
1740 removed, by permission of the Assembly, to the upper 
room of the western-most office of the State House. The 
Proprietaries granted the Company a charter in 1740 and 
also contributed a lot on Chestnut between Eighth and 
Ninth Streets, but it was too far out of town to build upon. 
The books increased by gift and purchase. James Logan, 
widely respected as a man of learning and the best judge 
of books in the Province, took an active interest in the 
Library and as we have seen made the selection of those to 
be bought in England with the first funds of the associa- 
tion, amounting to £45. 

The first Librarian was Lewis Timothee, who attended 
on Wednesday afternoons and on Saturday from ten to 
four. In 1737 Franklin succeeded him, then William 
Parsons, Francis Hopkinson, Zachariah Poulson, George 
Campbell, J. J. Smith, and Lloyd P. Smith. 

Books were allowed to be used in the library-room 
by " any civil gentleman," only subscribers and James 
Logan being allowed to take them home. These little 
restrictions were made by the directors who met at the 
house of Nicholas Scull and seem to have felt no need for 
supplying the feminine mind. Or may we not think that 
the gallant gentlemen knew that their present stock would 
be neither useful nor interesting to the ladies of the City? 

The library had numerous donations of articles usually 
accepted by Museums but particularly undesirable in a 
library which lacked space for books. Other libraries 
sprang up but all were merged with the parent in 1771 and 
two years later removed to the second floor of Carpenter's 

133 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Hall, where the officers of both Armies found an occasional 
solace in perusing them, especially when the library-room 
was used as a hospital. Not a book was lost or mutilated 
and all fees were scrupulously paid dm'ing this period of 
usurpation. In August, 1774, it was ordered " that the 
librarian furnish the gentlemen who are to meet in Congress 
in this city with such books as they may have occasion for 
during their sittings, taking a receipt from them," and 
so we have the first Congressional Library. 

The corner-stone of the library's first real home was laid 
in 1789 in Fifth Street, corner of Library. Franklin wrote 
the inscription, excepting that part which refers to him- 
self as founder, and his statue, executed in Italy and pre- 
sented by William Bingham, was placed in a niche over the 
doorway. The early morning aspect of the figure draped 
in a toga was suggested by the illustrious scholar himself 
and it is said to have cost five hundred guineas. It still 
stands over the portal of the library building at Juniper 
and Locust Streets, erected in 1880 to accommodate the 
vast accumulation of books. One can easily believe that 
the queer recipe for the statue was a cm-ious distortion 
of some simple remark of the sage. 

At the close of the Revolution the library contained 
5000 books and a home of its own became imperative. The 
modest building was the first in the United States devoted 
to the use of a public library. In 1792 James Logan's 
library was added to the collection and in 1869 the bequest 
of Dr. James Rush placed at the disi)osal of the Company 
the beautiful building known as the Ridgway Branch of 
the Philadelphia Library, where a hundred thousand vol- 
umes repose in dignified seclusion. It is situated on Broad 
Street between Christian and Carpenter Streets and is a 
granite mausoleum of Doric architecture, finished in 1877. 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY 




S) E have already observed enough of 
Frankhn's plans to note the catho- 
licity of his mind. As the population 
increased and the colonies became 
more densely settled he saw the need 
for a society of wider scope than the 
Junto of 1727 and in 1743 issued his 
well-known circular entitled " A Proposal for Promoting 
Useful Knowledge Among the British Plantaytions in 
America." The proposal was well received and the next 
year he says they have " had several meetings to mutual 
satisfaction." He names the members: "Dr. Thomas 
Bond as Physician, Mr. John Bartram as Botanist, Mr. 
Thomas Godfrey as Mathematician, Mr. William Parsons 
as Geographer, Dr. Phineas Bond as General Natural 
Philosopher, Mr. Thomas Hopkinson, President, Mr. 
William Coleman, Treasurer, Benjamin Franklin, Secre- 
tary," and to these he adds Mr. Alexander of New York, 
Mr. Morris, Chief Justice of the Jerseys, Mr. Howe, Secre- 
tary, Mr. John Coxe of Trenton and Mr. Martyn of the 
same place. He expects, he says, that several other gentle- 
men of the City will join, as well as some from Virginia, 
Maryland, Carolina, and the New England Colonies. Thus 
was launched the first scientific society in the new world. 
It flourished side by side with the Junto, which in 1766 
broadened out as the " American Society held at Phila- 
delphia for promoting and propagating Useful Knowl- 
edge," and in 1769 the two were united with Franklin as 
President, an office which he held until his death. 

By this time the Society had members in the different 
colonies, in the Barbadoes, Antigua, Heidelberg, Stock- 

1S5 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



holm, Edinburgh, London and Paris. Franklin advised a 
correspondence between the central organization and those 
distant members and with the Royal Society in London 
and in Uubhn. Thus persons residing in remote districts 
of America were put in direct communication with the 
Old World scientists in all their lines of work and to men 
of intelligence living far from the centres of education 
and enlightenment in the days of few books and periodicals, 
this was very important. 

Governor John Perm refused to be the Patron of the 
Society because Franklin was the " greatest enemy " to 
his family, but his successor, Richard Penn, was more 
gracious and courteously considered the appointment an 
honour. The Quaker Assembly looked with favoiu* upon 
the philosophers and voted a thousand pounds to assist 
them in planting mulberry trees for the benefit of silk- 
worms. A care of smoky chimneys and an interest in 
manures, among other subjects, occupied their attention 
and the pressure of erudition was relieved by very good 
dinners. To increase the comfort and prosperity, as well 
as the scholarship of the province, was the laudable am- 
bition of the Philosophical Society, and its members were 
drawn from every creed and walk of life. 

There was Ebenezer Kinnersley, a professor in the Col- 
lege to whom Franklin owed nmch of his success in impor- 
tant electrical discoveries. Kinnersley contrived an amus- 
ing " magical " picture of King George II, so arranged 
that anyone attempting to remove his crown would receive 
a shock. 

David Rittenhouse, the greatest American astronomer, 
who succeeded Franklin as President, was Vice-Provost 
of the University and first Director of the Mint, con- 
tributed the first purely scientific paper in the series of the 

136 



AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

Transactions of the Society. In June, 1769, he made 
observations on the transit of Venus, only seen twice before, 
from the observatory erected in the State House yard. It 
was from this balcony that John Nixon first read the Decla- 
ration of Independence to the people. He constructed an 
orrery representing the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, 
which appeared upon the seal of the University for a time. 
David was not above a little practical work and Washing- 
ton depended upon him to grind the glasses for his spec- 
tacles made famous by that remark of the first President 
as he adjusted them to his nose, " I have grown gray and 
blind in your service." 

Brother Jabetz, Prior of the Ephrata Cloister, was 
wont to walk eighty miles, it is said, to attend the meetings, 
and his tall spare figure in flowing robe, girt by a hempen 
cord, added a charming element of picturesqueness, as well 
as a flavour of asceticism which seemed j ust what the phi- 
losophers wanted. 

Jefferson was the third President and was an early 
member, combining with Franklin the ideal and the prac- 
tical. While abroad he disputed the arguments of the 
learned Count de Buff on, another member, on the de- 
generacy of American animals and finally sent him the 
bones, skins and horns of an enormous New Hampshire 
moose. Franklin answered a similar argmiient on the de- 
generacy of American men by making all the Americans 
at the table and all the Frenchmen stand up. The Ameri- 
cans happened to be fine, physical specimens and they 
towered above the little Gauls. Jefferson got a gold 
medal from France for designing a plow almost as good in 
its way as Franklin's model stove. He calculated the num- 
ber of bushels per acre at Monticello. He was also the 
architect of his beautiful home and the stately buildings of 

137 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



the University of Virginia nearby. During the bitter fac- 
tional strife of Jefferson's administration he was always 
ready to neglect politics for science, the one, as he said, 
being his duty, the other his passion. Indeed he filled one 
of the rooms of the White House with bones and fossils 
and frequently consulted Dr. Caspar Wistar about his 
scientific investigations and discoveries. Proud of his in- 
terest in these things Jefferson was not careful to conceal 
his joy in them. Indeed his propensity became a feature 
of the criticism heaped upon him as can be imagined from 
Brj^ant's lines in the Embargo : 

" Go, wretch, resign the Presidential chair ; 

Disclose thy secret measures, foul or fair; 

Go, search with curious eyes for homed frogs, 
' Mid the wild wastes of Louisiannian bogs. 

Or where the Ohio rolls its turbid stream 
• Dig for huge bones, thy glory and thy theme." 

The gala days of the philosophers were the annual 
dinners and the entertainments to distinguished visitors 
where many lively raconteurs and bon vivants were gath- 
ered about the board. Here were the Abbe Correa de 
Serra, Judge Richard Peters, Peter Stephen Duponceau, 
Dr. Caspar Wistar, John Vaughan, Robert Walsh, George 
Ord, AVilliam Strickland, Dr. Nathaniel Chapman and 
Nicholas Riddle. 

Perhaps the most unusual of Richard Peter's many 
attainments was his keen wit and brilliant conversation. 
He used to follow the assizes or circuits of the courts in all 
the surrounding counties and always relieved the tedium 
of the legal atmosphere by his humourous sallies. When 
the Pennsylvania delegation went to the conference with 
the Indians at Fort Stanwix, in New York State, Peters 

138 



AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

accompanied them and, during the negotiations, so insinu- 
ated himself into the good graces of the Indian chiefs that 
they proposed to adopt him into their tribe. Their offer 
was accepted and Peters was introduced to his adopted 
relatives by the name " Tegohtias," bestowed in allusion to 
his amusing talkativeness. 

In 1771 he became Register of the Admiralty, retaining 
this post until the Revolution broke out. Although this 
association might have been expected to attach him to the 
King's interests, he did not hesitate to espouse the cause 
of American rights and organized a company in the neigh- 
bourhood of his home, filling the post of captain. His 
administrative and executive abilities were so well known, 
however, that he was soon summoned to act as Secretary 
of the Board of War and thus became on June 13, 1776, 
the first Secretary of War of the new republic. Everyone 
who has read the record of that memorable time can imagine 
the difficult and trying position in which he was placed and 
it was undoubtedly due to his indomitable energy and 
unceasing labours that Washington's army had what pro- 
visions and ammunition they got. Some notion of the 
army's frequent grievous state and of the tremendous bur- 
den Peters bore on his shoulders during all the anxious 
years of strife may be gained from one of his letters : 

I was Commissioner of War in 1779. General Washington 
wrote to me that all his powder was wet and that he was entirely 
without lead or balls, so that, should the enemy approach, he must 
retreat. When I received this letter I was going to a grand gala 
at the Spanish Ambassador's, who lived in Mr. Chew's fine house 
in South Third Street. The spacious gardens were superbly decor- 
ated with variegated lamps, the edifice itself was a blaze of lights, 
the show was splendid, but my feelings were far from being in 
harmony with all this brilliancy. I met at this party my friend, 
Robert Morris, who soon discovered the state of my mind. " You 

139 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



are not yourself tonight, Peters, what is the matter? " asked 
Morris. Notwithstanding my unlimited confidence in that great 
patriot, it was some time before I could prevail upon myself to 
disclose the cause of my depression, but at length I ventured to 
give him a hint of my inability to answer the pressing calls of the 
Commander-in-Chief. The army is without lead and I know not 
where to get an ounce to supply it ; the General must retreat for 
want of ammunition. " Well, let him retreat," replied the high 
and liberal-minded Morris ; " but cheer up ; there are in the Holker 
Privateer, just arrived, ninety tons of lead, one-half of which is 
mine and at your service, the residue you can get by applying to 
Blair McClenachan and Holker, both of whom are in the house 
with us." I accepted the offer of Mr. Morris. 

Peters then goes on to relate how he approached 
jVIcClenachan and Holker, both of whom, however, de- 
murred because of the large sums already owing them. 
Thereupon Morris came forward, assumed the whole re- 
sponsibility, the lead was delivered and so the army for the 
nonce had a supply of bullets. 

After the surrender of Cornwallis, ^Ir. Peters resigned 
his post and received the thanks of Congress for his " long 
and faithful services." He was thereupon elected to Con- 
gress and had his share in the business of ending the war 
and arranging the longed-for peace. He was a member 
of the Assembly in 1787 and its Speaker from 1788 to 
1700. One day during this time a member tripped on the 
carpet and fell flat. This was followed by laughter on the 
part of the House but Judge Peters with great gravity 
called, " Order, order, gentlemen! Do you not see that a 
member is on the floor! " 

When Washington was on his way to New York for his 
first inauguration as President of the United States, Peters 
and General Thomas Mifflin, the Speaker of the State 

140 



AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

Senate, were the representatives of Pennsylvania who met 
him as he entered the state. 

The University made him a trustee in 1789 and in 
1791 he became the Speaker of the State Senate. Dechn- 
ing the Comptrollership of the United States Treasury 
he was commissioned Judge of the Federal Court of Penn- 
sylvania in 1792 and held the office until his death. 

Judge Peters was one of the founders of the Philadel- 
phia Society for Promoting Agriculture, the first of its 
kind in America, and held the presidency of it until his 
death. From the farm at Belmont came many model 
things. His specialty was dairying and the Belmont 
butter went to market put up in one-pound packages. 

Unfortunately for the judge, his one-pound weight, ac- 
cording to a new assize of weights and measures, was too 
light, and the whole consignment was seized by the in- 
spector and confiscated for the benefit of the poor. The 
judge then sent his old weight to be examined and cor- 
rected by the standard and when it was returned the letters 
" C. P." (for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) were 
stamped upon it. The servant who brought it back car- 
ried it at once to the judge, who was at dinner with a party 
of friends. Taking it, he carefully inspected it and looking 
gravely at his wife, said, as he held it up for her to see, 
" My dear, they have at last found us out. Here is the old 
weight come back with C. P. stamped in it which can 
stand for nothing in the world but Cheating Peters." 

Although the surroundings of Belmont were unusually 
beautiful the fields often presented a shabby appearance, 
for the judge was so occupied with public affairs and with 
agricultural experiments that he had little time to devote to 
the practical management of his farm. One day a German, 
who had often read the judge's agricultural reports, made 

141 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



a pilgrimage to Belmont. He found the gate without 
hinges, fences dilapidated, and the crops not equal to his 
own. When the judge came out to speak to him, the rustic 
bluntly expressed his disappointment at the appearance of 
the place. " How can you expect me," said the judge, " to 
attend to all these things when my time is so taken up in 
telling others how to farm?" The old German was dis- 
gusted and drove away without asking any more questions. 

As may be imagined, Belmont was the scene of lavish 
and constant hospitality and while Philadelphia was the 
seat of the Federal government the chief statesmen, diplo- 
mats and foreign notables were frequent guests there. 

The judge dearly loved to surround himself with his 
friends, and his political prominence, his intellectual bril- 
liance, and his genial personality drew a large coterie about 
liim. Washington and Lafayette were on terms of great 
intimacy w^ith him and the former, " whenever a morning 
of leisure permitted," w^as in the habit of driving to Bel- 
mont and there, free for a time from the cares of state, 
w^ould enjoy his host's vivacious flow of conversation, walk- 
ing for hours with him in the beautiful gardens between 
" clipped hedges of pyramids, obelisks and balls " of ever- 
green and spruce, or beneath the shade of ancient trees. 

Judge Peters's many stories and bon mots were whole- 
some and without the least trace of ill-humour or sharpness. 
On one occasion while attending a dinner of the Schuylkill 
Fishing Company he was seated beside the president. Gov- 
ernor Wharton. Toward the end of the dinner more wine 
was required and the Governor called a servingman named 
John to fetch it. Said the judge, " If you want more wine 
you sjiould call for the demi-John," adding that he himself 
" drank like a fish " from his goblet of water. 

To advertise one of his suburban tracts of land he 

142 



AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



posted a plan of the locality on a signboard and carefully- 
covered it with glass, saying that if he left it exposed 
*' every hunter who comes along will riddle it with shot 
and then everybody will see through my plan." The 
project was not successful and one of his friends advised 
him to have it officially laid out. " All right," said Peters, 
" it's time to lay it out. It's been dead long enough." Once 
when going to court, a very fat and a very thin man stood 
at the entrance of a door into which his honour wished to 
pass. He stopped for a moment for them to make way, 
but perceiving they were not inclined to move, he pushed on 
between them, exclaiming, " Here I go then, through thick 
and thin." 

As he grew older his nose and chin approached each 
other and a friend observed that they would soon be at 
loggerheads. " Very likely," the judge replied, *' for hard 
words often pass between them." 

Judge Peters was one of the courtliest of men and re- 
tained the ancient mode of dress long after others had 
abandoned it. To his dying day he wore knee-breeches 
and silver buckles on his shoes, always powdered his hair 
and dressed it in a queue. He died August 22, 1828. 

A famous story of Ord's was of a fellow member. Dr. 
Abercrombie, rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's, who 
went to Shrewsbury, New Jersey, dined on good old 
Madeira and then preached from the text, " And the bar- 
barous people showed us no little kindness." 

Delightful memories there are of John Vaughan's cele- 
brated breakfasts. Dr. Wistar's Sunday evening parties, 
and Henry C. Carey's Sunday afternoon vespers partici- 
pated in by Dr. Benjamin Rush, Chief Justice Tilghman, 
Jared Ingersoll, Dr. Robert Patterson, Jonathan 
Williams, John Fitch, Rev. William Smith, Dr. Barton, 

143 



EARLY PHILADELPHL\ 



Charles Wilson Peale, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Noah 
Webster, Josiah Quincy, Washington Irving, Elisha Kent 
Kane, Count de Lesseps, IVIr. Gladstone, Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, George Bancroft, James Russell Lowell, Louis 
Agassiz and Joseph Leidy. 

Interrupted by the Revolutionary War, the members 
reassembled on the 5th of INIarch, 1779, and a year later 
were granted their first charter, and a lot of ground ad- 
joining the State House on which to build a hall. In 1789 
this Hall was completed and stands to-day filled with price- 
less relics. One of the most curious of these is a strange 
instrument, called a Horologium or Planescope, which Dr. 
Christopher Witt gave to the society in 1767. Dr. Witt 
was the last surviving member of the jNIajestic Brotherhood 
of the Wissahickon and the instrument came to him in 
1708 from Kelpius, the hermit who lived in a cave on the 
banks of that stream near the present Rittenliouse Street. 
It is supposed to have belonged to ]M agister Zimmerman, 
who formed in Germany the Order of the Wissahickon 
and cast the horoscope of the new undertaking before the 
brothers sailed. It was used generally for social and busi- 
ness affairs in early Philadelphia and the pastor of Old 
Swedes' Church, previous to the laying of the corner-stone, 
requested a noted mystic named Seelig, residing on the 
Wissahickon, to cast a horoscope and find a propitious 
day for the commencement of the building. The occult 
brotherhood were present in a body at the laying of the 
foundation stone in the fall of 1698 and took part in the 
ceremony by furnishing the instrumental music and inton- 
ing the Psalms and responses. Ancient volumes handled 
by men whose names are household words, paintings, and 
manuscripts comprising the greater part of the Franklin 
papers, and funds for various useful purposes are in the 



AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

Society's care. Its general meetings held annually in the 
spring bring together important persons from at home and 
abroad, while its regular fortnightly meetings add papers 
and discussions of great value. They are held on Friday 
evenings as in the old Junto days. 

The American Philosophical Society has given the 
impulse to historical societies, scientific schools, academies 
of natural science and kindred institutions in other cities 
and is still inspired by the broad spirit and diligent industry 
of its founders. 



10 



THE UNIVERSITY 




|HE. movement which developed into 
the University of Pennsylvania was 
begun in Philadelphia in 1740. Like 
the province itself, it had its origin 
in religious persecution. 

At the close of the year 1739 
there arrived in Philadelphia on the 
way to his parish at Savannah, Georgia, the Reverend 
George Wliitefield, then but twenty-four years of age, 
although his powers of preaching much exceeded his breth- 
ren of the Episcopal Church. So great was this power 
that a complaint was made to the bishop immediately after 
his first sermon in Gloucester Cathedral following his 
ordination, that fifteen people had been driven mad by it. 
The bishop only replied that he hoped the madness might 
not be forgotten before another Sunday. This was the 
beginning of his preaching eighteen thousand times, or ten 
times a week for four and thirty years. Franklin was 
attracted by his eloquence and wrote to a friend, " I knew 
him intimately for upwards of thirty years. His integrity, 
disinterestedness, and indefatigable zeal in prosecuting 
every good work, I have never seen equalled, and shall never 
see excelled." He adds that Whitefield used sometimes to 
pray for his conversion " but never had the satisfaction of 
believing that his prayers were heard." 

Very soon Whitefield was prohibited from preaching 
in Christ Church and the crowds which assembled to hear 
him w^re too great for any house in the City, so that a 
movement was set on foot to provide a building which 
would accommodate the people and protect them from 
the weather. Franklin was foremost in the w^ork and tells 
us that sufficient sums were soon received to procure the 

1 46 




THE CHARITY SCHOOL, ACADEMY AND COLLEGE ON FOURTH STREET 
BELOW ARCH STREET 

The "New Building" of 1740 and the College Dormitories 




COLLEGE HALL ON NINTH STREET BELOW MARKET STREET, 1829-1872 



THE UNIVERSITY 



ground on Fourth near Arch Street and to erect the build- 
ing, which was 100 feet long and 70 broad, " about the 
size of Westminster Hall." The work was carried on with 
such spirit that Whitefield preached in it in November, 
1740. There was another purpose which the trustees of 
this building had in mind and which appears in their ad- 
vertisement in July of 1740 where they say it is " for a 
charity school for the instruction of poor children, gratis, 
in useful literatiu-e and the knowledge of the Christian 
religion." As one of the Trustees, Whitefield was com- 
missioned to select a master and mistress for the Charity 
School. What measure of success was attained for this 
school has never been positively determined but it is the 
clause which was incorporated word for word in the deed 
to the Trustees of the Academy in 1749 that connects the 
University with the origin of 1740. 

Franklin's first proposal for a " compleat education of 
youth " was mentioned in 1743, but it was not until his 
publication of " Proposals relating to the Education of 
Youth in Pennsylvania," 1749, that the idea took the form 
of a definite prospectus, which he distributed freely among 
the principal inhabitants. It is well to note his departure 
from the common practice of the time of emphasizing the 
usual classical education, by his particular mention of the 
importance of keeping our mother tongue foremost in 
the aims of the Institution. He was ahead of his time 
also in urging that as " art is long, and their time is short " 
that they " learn those things that are likely to be the most 
useful and most ornamental; regard being had to the sev- 
eral professions for which they are intended." Also " that 
to keep them in Health, and to strengthen and render 
active their Bodies, they be frequently exercised in Run- 
ning, Leaping, Wrestling, and Swimming, etc." 

147 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Franklin was ably seconded by Dr. Richard Peters, 
afterwards rector of Christ Church and St. Peters. 
Franklin wanted him to organize and head the Academy 
in 1743 but he declined. He became President of the 
Board of Trustees in 1756 and was the leading spirit 
during Franklin's absences abroad. 

It may be well to name the 24 gentlemen who asso- 
ciated themselves to carry this project into being. They 
were: 

James Logan, Esquire 

Thomas Lawrence, Esquire 

William Allen, Esquire 

John Inglis, Merchant 

Tench Francis, Esquire 

William Masters, Esquire 

Lloyd Zachary, Practitioner in Physic 

Samuel McCall, Jr., Merchant 

Joseph Turner, Esquire 

Benjamin Franklin, Printer 

Thomas Leech, Merchant 

William Shippen, Practitioner in Physic 

Robert Strettell, Esquire 

Philip Syng, Silversmith 

Charles Willing, Esquire 

Phineas Bond, Practitioner in Physic 

Thomas Hopkinson, Esquire 

William Plumsted, Esquire 

Joshua Maddox, Esquire 

Thomas White, Esquire 

William Coleman, Merchant 

Abram Taylor, Esquire 

Richard Peters, Esquire 

Thomas Bond, Practitioner in Physic 

Thus they are named and described in the deed of 
conveyance of the property on Fourth Street and in their 
first Minutes. 

148 



THE UNIVERSITY 



In taking over the " New Building," as it was called 
when erected for Whitefield, the conveyors dictated a 
continuance of their original purpose and in each of the 
Charters granted to the institution this has been continued, 
forming an unbroken connection back to 1740. The origi- 
nal Trustees, besides, contributed a considerable amount 
of the money for the Academy of 1749 at the time of the 
transfer of their property. 

The first meeting of the new subscribers was held at 
Robert's Coffee House Februaiy 1, 1750, when Messrs. 
Benezet, Hazard, Eastburn, Read and Evans directed 
their associates, Edmund Wooley and John Coats, to make 
the deed conveying the property on Fourth Street near 
Arch to the new Trustees. 

Franklin wanted the Rev. Samuel Johnson, of Strat- 
ford, Connecticut, to head the Academy and journeyed 
thence to persuade him, but in vain, and David Martin, 
M.A., was chosen Rector to start the undertaking. He 
died in 1751 and Francis Allison was chosen in his place 
" upon Trial." 

David James Dove, the English Master at this time, 
deserves mention, for he was one of the characters of the 
time. Graydon, who was a pupil under him, tells us that 
he was much celebrated as a teacher both at his own school, 
kept in Videll's Alley, and in the Academy. It was his 
practice to substitute disgrace for corporal punishment and 
he rarely used his birch in the usual way. It was, how- 
ever, stuck into the back part of the collar of the culprit 
who was compelled to stand at the top of the form with 
this badge of disgrace towering from his nape. When his 
scholars were late he would send a committee of boys for 
them with a lighted lantern and bell to escort them through 
the streets to their class-room. He was fair about it and 

149 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



one day when late himself subjected himself good- 
humoredly to the same treatment on the part of his watch- 
ful pupils. lie tried to conduct a girls' school of his own 
in addition to his duties at the Academy and so lost liis 
position, for the Trustees were not lenient then as to a 
division of allegiance in the faculty. 

The only reference to the doings of the boys of those 
days is in the formal minutes of the Trustees in the entry 
of 15th of November, 1752, " Agreed that a small Ladder 
be bought, to be always at hand for the Conveniency of 
mending the Windows," but Graydon gives some account 
of their pranks while he was a student: 

He tells in his memoirs of his entry into the College 
and how he was compelled at the outset to reluctantly 
fight a battle with one John Appowen in order to establish 
his claim to the honour of being an Academy boy. He was 
defeated, but was acknowledged to have behaved well and 
not unworthily, so that he had no more battles imposed 
upon him. 

John Beveridge, a native of Scotland, was the Latin 
master at this time and made a free use of the rattan and 
ferule. The boys imposed upon him and one actually 
twitched off his wig under the pretense of brushing a spider 
from it. The poor man could only exclaim, " Hoot monl " 
The worst, however, that Graydon relates is the sudden 
darkening of the room by boj's on the outside, closing the 
shutters soon after the master had entered and before he 
reached his place. From the utter darkness came " the 
most hideous yells that can be conceived " and all the books 
available were hurled at the head of the astonished pre- 
ceptor. He groped and crawled to the door, attained 
light and returned to a death-like silence. Everj' boy was 
at his lesson. After several days of this Graydon says the 

150 



THE UNIVERSITY 



faculty interfered and decreed most exemplary punishment 
for those who were caught. He tells, in striking contrast, 
of the sterling qualities and dignity and the respect in 
which the students held Patrick Alison, later chaplain to 
the Continental Congress; James Wilson, professor of 
English, founder of the Law School and Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States in after years, and 
John Andrews, later Provost. Boys were boys in those 
days, too, it seems, although their appearance and stilted 
writings have often caused us to regard them as more 
serious and dignified than our present Freshmen. 

Graydon's account of early athletics is so interesting 
that it should be quoted : 

" My course was much shortened by the removal to my mother's, 
who had taken a house in Arch Street, facing the Friends' burying 
ground. The first lads that were placed with her were two brothers, 
the sons of a Colonel Lewis, of Virginia. The younger, named 
Samuel, , . . had the attractions of a pleasing countenance and 
great gentleness of manners. . . . There was not a boy in the 
school in whose welfare and competitions I took so decided an inter- 
est ; the ardor of which was in almost perpetual requisition, from 
the circumstance of his being a champion in the gymnastic exer- 
cise of running, which was then the rage. The enthusiasm of the turf 
had pervaded the Academy, and the most extravagant transports 
of that theatre on the triumph of a favorite horse were not more 
zealous and impassioned than were the acclamations which followed 
the victor in a foot-race around a square. Stripped to the shirt, 
and accoutred for the heat by a handkerchief bound round the 
head, another round the middle, with loosened knee-bands, without 
shoes, or with moccasins instead of them, the racers were started; 
and turning to the left round the corner of Arch Street, they 
encompassed the square in which the Academy stands, while the 
most eager spectators, in imitation of those who scour across 
the course at a horse race, scampered over the church burying 
ground to Fifth Street, in order to see the state of the runners 
as they passed, and to ascertain which was likely to be foremost, 

151 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



on turning Market Street corner. The four sides of this square 
cannot be much less than three-quarters of a mile; wherefore, 
bottom in the coursers was no less essential than swiftness, and in 
both Lewis bore away the palm from every one that dared enter 
against him. After having, in a great number of matches, com- 
pletely triumphed over the Academy, other schools were resorted 
to for racers ; but all in vain — Lewis was the Eclipse that dis- 
tanced every competitor, the swift-footed Achilles, against the 
vigorous agilit}' of whose straight and well-proportioned form the 
long-legged stride of the overgrown and the nimble step of tlie 
dapper were equally unavailing." 

A notable addition to the faculty upon ]Mr. Dove's re- 
tirement in 1753 was that of Ebenezer Kinnersley, who 
was chosen " Professor of the English Tongue and of 
Oratory." It was, however, for his proficiency in elec- 
tricity that he became best known, and much of Franklin's 
reputation for his discoveries in the new wonder is attrib- 
uted to him. 

In 1753 Governor Penn gave the institution a Charter 
imder the name of " The Trustees of the Academy and 
Charitable School in the Province of Pemisylvania " and 
there was much rejoicing among both Trustees and Pupils, 
the latter delivering several declamations in Latin to cele- 
brate the event. 

The Academy was growing and soon the necessity of 
enlarging its sphere was apparent. 

The publication of a scheme for an ideal " College of 
Mirania " by William Smith, who had been educated at the 
University of Aberdeen, attracted much attention in 1752 
and in enclosing a copy to Franklin the author inquired 
about the placing of his pupils in the Philadelphia Acad- 
emy. The correspondence led to a visit and finally to 
the choice of William Smith as Provost of the College in 
1755. The career of this remarkable man was long and 

152 



THE UNIVERSITY 



distinguished. It is to his skillful management that the 
rise and success of the University must be attributed. The 
plan of his ideal " College of Mirania " which he endea- 
voured to put into practice, was a step in advance in educa- 
tion and the courses of study which he first inculcated 
have formed the bases for nearly all American Colleges. 
These advanced ideas were in harmony with those of 
Franklin and his associates, so that the modern theory of 
iVmerican education had its beginnings at Philadelphia 
nearly a hundred years before it was established in any 
other community in the country. Dr. Smith was eloquent, 
forcible and courageous. Dr. Rush said he was not de- 
pendable and a blasphemer, and Franklin called him a 
drunkard, but he made Franklin retract. He drew up the 
new Charter of 1755 incorporating the College, which 
name was added to the title, still including the " Charitable 
School " of 1740. 

In the agitated times that followed, during the wars 
with the French, the Provost, Dr. Smith, opposed so 
vehemently the non-resistance policy of the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania that by an arbitrary stretch of power he was 
thrown into prison. In faithfulness to his duties as Pro- 
vost, however, he received his classes at the windows of his 
gaol, and continued his instructions to them there while still 
a prisoner. Finally he was set at liberty, for the purpose of 
going to England to make a personal appeal to the king, 
and his kindly reception there was not lessened by the strain 
to which his loyalty at home had been put. Oxford con- 
ferred on him the degi-ee of Doctor of Divinity. On his 
return home so highly did his fellow-citizens rate his influ- 
ence abroad that, when in 1761 the Trustees were hard 
beset, they sent him back to England to raise funds for an 
endowment. It happened that King's College (now Colum- 

153 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



bia) in New York was in similar straits, and had resolved 
on similar efforts. The two commissioners met in England 
and amicably resolved to " divide the land between them " 
and share the proceeds. Through the influence of the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury they received a circular letter from 
the king to all the chm*ches, and succeeded in raising a 
very considerable endowment for each college. David 
Garrick gave a benefit in Di-ury Lane which netted a 
good sum and altogether Dr. Smith raised at home and 
abroad £14,000 for his College. 

Two graduates of the first class became more than 
usually distinguished. Francis Hopkinson was one of 
the most prominent patriots of the Revolutionary War, 
was a member of Congress and Assembly, a Judge and 
Signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a 
musician and writer of ability, in fact the most prolific 
writer of both prose and verse who ever graduated from 
the College. He became a Trustee in 1778 and his family 
have been prominently identified with the institution to 
the present day. Jacob Duche became Rector of Christ 
Church and St. Peter s and was the first chaplain of the 
Continental Congi*ess. Jolm Adams, writing of the open- 
ing of the Congress, says that Duche " struck out into an 
extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man 
present." But when the British entered Philadelphia in 
1777 his patriotism left him and he begged Washington to 
conclude a peace. He was the first alumnus to become a 
Trustee, which he did in 1761, and ably seconded the 
plans of the Provost. 

John ^Morgan, of the class of 1757, has shed great 
glory upon his Alma IVIater. Beginning his medical studies 
under Dr. Redman, he ser\'ed as a surgeon of the Pro- 
vincial Troops against the French and Indians until 1760, 

154 



THE UNIVERSITY 



when he went to Europe to complete his medical education 
at Edinburgh, London and Paris. Returning to Philadel- 
phia in 1765 he laid before the Trustees of the College at 
a special meeting on the 3rd of May, a recommendation 
of his plans for a Medical Department from Governor 
Thomas Penn and similar letters from James Hamilton 
and Rev. Mr. Richard Peters, two Trustees then in Eng- 
land. The Trustees immediately entered into the project 
with enthusiasm and appointed Dr. Morgan Professor of 
Theory and Practice of Physick. Thus was begun the 
first Medical School in America, which, as Thomas Penn 
said, gave " Reputation and Strength to the Institution " 
and made it the first University on the Continent, a fact 
which was strengthened by the first Law Department in 
1790. It was this great achievement of the old College 
which has maintained Philadelphia as the centre of medi- 
cine in this country, an achievement rendered permanent 
by the recent merger of other medical schools with the 
pioneer. 

In the Revolutionary War Dr. Morgan was made 
Director General and Physician in Chief of the army. 
Again the Trustees' Minutes tell us of their trouble with 
youthful spirits, for on the 2nd of February, 1773, they 
say " several Things are wanting " and begin by naming 
the playing of Truant and going about the streets in im- 
proper Company. Then they say " The Bell, morning 
and afternoon, rings a Quarter of an Hour, or Twenty 
minutes; during which Time, the Boys are running over 
the Benches in the Schools, and up and down the Stairs 
in a very rude manner; none of the Masters or Ushers 
coming into the Schools, till after the Ringing of the Bell 
is finished." 

On account of the presence of the Continental Con- 

155 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



gress, the Commencement of 1775 was a notable one. 
]\Iany of the delegates were at home in the College Hall 
for they had been a part of the institution, and two of 
them, Franklin and Mifflin, Trustees, were appointed a 
conmiittee of reception, Allen, ]\Iifflin, John and Lambert 
Cadwalader, Peters, Bingham and Smith, of Pennsyl- 
vania; Hopkinson, Xeilson and Sergeant, of New Jersey; 
Paca, Seney and Hindman, of Maryland; Williamson 
and Hill, of North Carolina; Dickinson, of Delaware; 
iSIarchant, of Rhode Island; Grayson, of Virginia, and 
Ramsay, of South Carolina, all knew the place and it was 
dear to them. We can imagine their reminiscences and 
the pranks they recounted to their distinguished colleagues 
as the assemblage gathered. Some perhaps had appeared 
in the " Masque of Alfred," performed by the students 
in January of 1757 in honour of Lord Loudoun and the 
Governors of several of the Colonies, who were in Phila- 
delphia consulting upon plans for common resistance to the 
Indians. Some grew enthusiastic, no doubt, as they 
pointed out the course, about the square, taken by young 
Samuel Lewis, of Virginia, in 1770, when he won the 
championship at foot-racing. There may have been some 
in the company who had led the assault with apples upon 
the windows and new street lamps in 1752, which caused 
a formal entry upon the INIinutes of the Trustees " that a 
small Ladder be bought, to be always at hand for the Con- 
veniency of mending the windows." 

As a member of the Congress came Colonel George 
Washington, a delegate from Virginia, w-ho was to be 
called within a month to the command of his countr\''s 
army. He lodged at Dr. Shippen's and was entertained 
at Andrew and James Allen's, James Tilglmian's, Thomas 
Mifflin's, William Hamilton's, John Dickinson's, Benjamin 

156 



THE UNIVERSITY 



Chew's, Thomas Willing's, Dr. Cadwalader's, General 
Cadwalader's, Thomas Wharton's, Dr. Rush's, and at 
other homes of University men. He wore his uniform 
because it was the best suit he had, and it consisted of a 
blue coat, scarlet waistcoat and breeches. And so Wash- 
ington first appeared at the University in the colours it 
now holds so dear. 

On Monday, May 15, 1775, the following advertise- 
ment appeared in the " Pennsylvania Packet " : 

. . . The Commencement for degrees in the Arts will begin 
at the College, on Wednesday next at nine o'clock; and the busi- 
ness will be finished in the forenoon. That there may be the more 
room for strangers in the Hall, the worthy inhabitants of the City 
are requested to accommodate themselves (as far as they con- 
veniently can) in the Galleries; the doors of which will be opened 
at half an hour Past Eight o'clock." 

The account of the Commencement is given in the 
" Pennsylvania Packet " of May 22, 1775: 

" College of Philadelphia, May 17, 1775. 

This day the public Commencement for Graduation in the Arts 
was held here, in the presence of the most illustrious assembly this 
Seminary ever beheld. 

About half an hour after nine o'clock, agreeable to an invita- 
tion previously given to them, the Honorable members of the Con- 
tinental Congress were pleased to proceed in a body from the State 
House to the College, where they were received at the gate by the 
Provost and conducted to places prepared for their reception in 
the Hall. As soon as they were seated, the Trustees, with the Gov- 
ernor as President at their head, followed by the Provost, Vice- 
Provost, Professors, Graduates and other students, in their proper 
habits, entered the Hall, took their places ; the Galleries and other 
parts of the house being filled with as many of the respectable 
inhabitants of the City as could find room. The business then 
proceeded in the following order, viz. : 

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EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



I. Part of the Church Service, with an occasional Prayer, by 
the Provost. 

2. An Anthem, accompanied with the organ and other instru- 
mental music. 

3. Latin Salutatory Oration, de Amicitia, by Henry Ridgley. 

4. On the Education of Young Ladies, by Francis Brown 
Sappington. 

5. Latin Syllogistic Dispute, Utrum detur Sensus Moralis? 
Respondent, William Moore Smith; Opponents, Benjamin Chew 
and John Mifflin. 

6. On Ancient Eloquence, by Thomas Ennals. 

7. On Politeness, by John Mifflin. 

8. On the Fall of Empires, by William Moore Smith. 

9. The degrees were then conferred as follows, viz. : Bachelor 
of Arts — Benjamin Chew, *Townsend Eden, *Thomas Ennals, 
John Farrel, John Mifflin, *Henry Ridgley, *Francis Brown 
Sappington, and William Moore Smith. (*The young Gentlemen 
whose names are marked with an asterisk [thus *] are of Mary- 
land, the others of Pliiladelphia. ) Samuel Armor, John Park and 
John Thomas. Honorary Master of Arts, James Ross. 

10. A Dialogue and two Odes set to music. The speakers in 
the Dialogue were John Farrel, F. B, Sappington and W. M. 
Smith. 

II. Valedictory Oration — B. Chew. 

12. CHARGE to the Graduates, by the Provost. 

13. Concluding Prayer, by the Vice-Provost. 

The Condescension of the Gentlemen Delegates, who thought 
it not unworthy of them, amid their other arduous concerns, to 
devote a few hours towards the encouragement of youth in literary 
pursuits, and the great generous applause given by them, as well 
as the audience in general, to the different speakers and to their 
exercises, especially such of them as had a reference to the present 
state of our public affairs, are circumstances which will be long 
remembered as honorable to the Seminary. At the desire, there- 
fore, of some very respectable names, and also that the principles 
constantly propagated in this Seminary may be known to the whole 
world, all those parts of the exercises which touched on matters of 
a public nature, are herewith communicated." 

158 



THE UNIVERSITY 



In the next issue of the " Packet," May 29, 1775, the 
speeches on " Ancient Eloquence," " Fall of Empires," the 
Valedictory and the Charge of the Provost are given. 

" The Fall of Empires," by the son of Dr. Smith, 
caused the audience to break " forth into one loud and 
general plaudit" when he cried out, " Liberty is our idol! 
She is the parent of virtue, the guardian of innocence, and 
the terror of vice! Equal laws, security of property, true 
religion, wisdom, magnanimity, arts and sciences are her 
lovely offspring! " Listening to this oration and to others 
of like sentiment we can imagine Washington's heart re- 
sponding warmly to the spirit of the occasion. How enthu- 
siastic he must have felt for the College that was instilling 
into its youth the principles he heard so ardently pro- 
claimed that day in May of 1775 when he was on the 
threshold of the consecration of his life to the ideals it 
taught! 

Washington soon had further evidence of the patriotic 
attitude of the University he had visited. On the 23rd of 
June he attended Christ Church with the members of the 
Continental Congress, the officers of the Third Battalion 
of Philadelphia Militia, Colonel John Cadwalader com- 
manding, and a " vast concourse of people " to hear a 
sermon by Provost William Smith. It was on the " Pres- 
ent Situation of American Affairs " and laid down certain 
moral and political principles, leaving the obvious applica- 
tion to the distinguished gentlemen in the audience. This 
sermon caused much comment and was considered a patri- 
otic call to the liberties of America. 

The ceremony of the commencement to which Wash- 
ington listened was the last public one until 1779. The 
commencement of 1776 was a private one on June 10th. 
The buildings and yard were filled with militia and the 

159 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



classes discontinued. The Trustees did not meet on ac- 
count of " public alarms." The Faculty complained that 
their lecture and even bed-rooms were forced open and that 
there were " hundreds of soldiers quartered in the College 
at one time." 

There were many of the University's men in the Revo- 
lution. Ten of them had signed the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Tliis is not the place to enumerate them, but 
it may be well to tell of a few who stood near to Wash- 
ington, were dear to him, whom he trusted and who helped 
him win. 

For Benjamin Franklin Washington formed an early 
attachment. Indeed it was Franklin, as one of a committee 
of three sent by Congress in 1775, who framed the plan, 
with the Commander-in-Chief, at Cambridge for putting 
the defense of the country upon a permanent basis. The 
scheme was a continental army which enabled Washing- 
ton to carry on a seven years' war, and through Franklin's 
later efforts in Paris, to carry it to a successful conclusion. 
Washington wrote to him afar off in Passy in 1781, virtu- 
ally telling him that it lay with him to save his country if 
she was to be saved at all. It is Washington's words that 
are cut in the base of the Franklin Statue in Philadelpliia 
on the site of the one time University buildings : 

" Venerated for Benevolence 
Admired for Talents 
Esteemed for Patriotism 
Beloved for Philanthropy." 

The splendid figure of Washington which stands in the 
Capitol at Richmond is due to Franklin's selection of 
Houdon to execute the commission voted by the State of 
Virginia. 

Anthony Wayne, of the Class of 1765, was the most 

160 



THE UNIVERSITY 



picturesque figure of the Revolution and one of the finest 
soldiers America has produced. He was also an Assembly- 
man and sat in the Pennsylvania Convention which ratified 
the Constitution of the United States. Washington's re- 
liance upon him is indicated by the account of every battle 
in which he was engaged where " Wayne led the advance." 
On June 24, 1778, Washington invited his generals to a 
council at Hopewell, New Jersey, and after explaining to 
them the conditions of his own force and that of the enemy, 
asked if it would be advisable to hazard a general action. 
Sixteen generals were gathered and all answered against 
such an action with considerable explanation until it came 
to Anthony Wayne. Washington then said to him, " What 
would you do. General? " He arose in his place and re- 
plied with emphasis, " Fight, sir." The Battle of Mon- 
mouth was the result. He served with distinction in nearly 
every important engagement from Canada in the North to 
Georgia in the South and after the war Washington made 
him Commander-in-Chief of the American Army. In this 
position he conquered the middle and northwest and se- 
cured for civilization the territory between the Mississippi 
and Ohio Rivers. Upon the centre of the outer line at 
Valley Forge stands a noble equestrian statue of General 
Wayne. It is where he stood on that hallowed camp- 
ground and the place he held upon many a field of battle. 
There is no commonwealth in America but has a county or 
town bearing his name. 

John Cadwalader, of the Class of 1760, after serving 
as a member of the Provisional Congress, took command of 
the " Silk Stocking Company " in Philadelphia before 
which Provost Smith delivered his celebrated address in 
Christ Church in 1775. He soon rose to be a Brigadier- 
General, meriting the report of Washington in which he 

11 161 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



said, " General Cadwalader is a man of ability, a good 
disciplinarian, a man of good principles and of intrepid 
bravery." He was always an enthusiastic supporter of 
Washington and fought a duel in his behalf with Conway, 
author of the " Cabal," whose purpose w^as to substitute 
General Gates as Commander-in-Chief. Cadwalader 
badly wounded Conway, who apologized to Washington 
and left the countr}\ In 1779 he became a Trustee. A 
brother, Lambert, of the same class, was a member of the 
Provincial Convention and Continental Congress. He 
was a Captain and Colonel of Pennsylvania Militia in the 
Revolution. 

Thomas ^lifflin graduated in 1760. He soon took an 
interest in public affairs and became a member of the Pro- 
vincial Assembly and Continental Congress. Although a 
member of the Society of Friends, he enlisted for the de- 
fense of Pennsylvania as a major upon the outbreak of 
hostilities. When Wasliington became Commander-in- 
Chief of the American Army, Mifflin was the first aide-de- 
camp he chose and soon after he appointed him Quarter- 
master-General " from a thorough persuasion of his in- 
tegrity and my own experience of his activity." He quickly 
rose to be a Major-General and Congress maintained im- 
plicit confidence in him by almost unlimited financial sup- 
port while he was a Quartermaster-General. He became, 
indeed. President of Congress and received Washington's 
resignation in the historic scene at Annapolis after the 
war. As Mifflin rose in fame and position he was drawn 
into a critical attitude toward Washington nnd was sus- 
pected of being a party to the Conway Cabal. He re- 
turned to his old allegiance, however, and in receiving 
Washington's resignation made a particularly graceful and 
eloquent reply. " You retire," said he in closing, " from 

162 



THE UNIVERSITY 



the theatre of action with the blessings of your fellow 
citizens; but the glory of youi* virtues will not terminate 
with your military command : it will continue to animate 
remotest ages." He was long a member of the Pennsyl- 
vania Assembly, Governor and member of the Convention 
which formed the national constitution. He was a Trustee 
of the College. 

James Wilson was one of the most distinguished 
lawyers of his day. He was Professor of English in the 
College in 1773, received the degree of A.M. in 1766 and 
LL.D. in 1790. He founded the Law School of the 
University in 1790, the first on the Continent, was the 
first Professor of Law and a Trustee. He was a member 
of Congress until 1787, a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and member of the Constitutional Convention, 
in which he was intellectually the ablest of the members. 
He is said to have had much, if not most, to do with the 
writing of the Constitution of the United States and was 
appointed a Justice of the National Supreme Court in 
1789 by President Washington, who had already recog- 
nized his ability by placing his nephew Bushrod under him. 

Philemon Dickinson, of the Class of 1759, was a soldier 
aind statesman. He was a member of the Continental 
Congress and entered the Revolution as a Colonel of New 
Jersey troops, soon rising, as a Major- General, to the com- 
mand of all the troops of his state. He displayed great 
bravery at the Battle of Monmouth and was especially com- 
mended by Washington. As Chief Signal Officer of the 
Continental Army, he had much to do with Washington 
and was Cadwalader's second in his duel with Conway. 
After the war he became United States Senator from 
New Jersey. 

John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, of the Class of 1763, 

163 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



was a picturesque and romantic figure. At the outbreak 
of the Revolution he was the pastor of a cliurch at Wood- 
stock, Virginia. Having accepted a Colonel's commission 
at Washington's solicitation, he appeared in his pulpit 
with his uniform under his gown and after preaching a 
sermon on the wrongs the Colonists had suffered from 
Great Britain he proclaimed, " There is a time for all 
things — a time to preach, and a time to pray ; but there is 
also a time to fight, and that time is now come." Then 
pronomicing the benediction he threw off his gown and 
took his place at the head of his recruits. He participated 
in many battles and became a Major- General. After the 
war he was a member of Congress and United States Sen- 
ator from Pennsylvania, but resigned before taking his 
seat. His figure is Pennsylvania's sole representative in 
Statuary Hall of the national capitol. 

Richard Peters, Jr., graduated in 17C1 and received 
his master's degree in 1765 and Doctor of Laws in 1827. 
He was a member of the Continental Congress, Assembly- 
man and Judge of the U. S. District Court. He com- 
manded a company when the Revolution broke out and 
in 1776 was appointed by Congi*ess Secretary of the Board 
of War. As the first Secretary of War he frequently 
came into contact with General Washington. He was a 
Trustee of the College and a famous wit, as has been re- 
lated. Another alumnus, Benjamin Stoddert of Mary- 
land, who served as a INIajor of Cavalry in the Revolution 
until badly wounded at Brandywine, was the first Secre- 
tary' of the Navy and served in the cabinets of Adams and 
Jefferson. 

James Tilton, Bachelor of Medicine, 1768, and Doctor 
in 1771, was a Delawarean and entered the war as a lieu- 
tenant of light infantry. He soon became regimental sur- 

164 



THE UNIVERSITY 



geon, however, and after serving in several campaigns 
was called to the hospital department of the army, where 
he brought order out of chaos and established methodical 
procedure. He refused the chair of Materia Medica at 
his Ahna Mater, preferring not to desert his country at a 
critical time. He was present at the surrender of Com- 
wallis and soon after was elected to Congress. When the 
war of 1812 came Tilton was made Surgeon- Cxcneral of 
the United States Army. He was a distinguished publicist 
and member of many important scientific societies. 

Jonathan Potts, of the Class of 1768, was made a Doc- 
tor of Medicine in 1771 also. He delivered the valedictory 
at Commencement, emphasizing the advantage to be de- 
rived in the Study of Physic from a previous liberal edu- 
cation in the other sciences. He was a member of the 
Provincial Congress and upon the outbreak of hostilities 
was appointed physician-surgeon of the army for Canada 
and Lake George. In 1777 he became deputy director- 
general of the General Hospital in the Northern district. 
His work of reorganization and efficiency gained for him a 
commendatory vote of Congress and he was made director- 
general of the hospitals of the middle department. This 
brought him into the enormous task of caring for the sick 
and wounded at Valley Forge. From this exertion he died 
at the age of 36, before the independence of his country 
for which he had so ardently longed. 

William White, of the Class of 1765, was chosen chap- 
lain to Congress in 1777. He was riding with a friend 
when a messenger from Congress overtook him. Realizing 
the danger of enrolling with the patriots he hesitated a few 
moments, turned his horse's head and accompanied the 
emissary to General Washington's headquarters. The 
rector of the United Churches of Christ and St. Peter's 

165 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



and the first American Bishop of the Episcopal Church, 
was made a Master of Arts in 1767 and a Doctor of Divin- 
ity in 1783. He was a Trustee from 1774 to 1836 and only 
lacked one vote of being chosen Provost. He had close 
and confidential relations with Washington, who attended 
Christ Church. The Bishop was often present at dinners 
of state and his residence on Walnut Street was the only 
place where President and INIrs. Washington allowed them- 
selves to make a social call. The Bishop was the dispenser 
of the President's alms. 

In 1762, at the age of 18, Tench Tilghman came to 
Philadelphia from INIaryland. His father was a lawj^er 
and soon became a prominent man in the Conmionwealth 
and a Trustee of the University. Sympathizing with the 
loyalists, the elder Tilglmian retired to Chestertown, 
INIaryland, at the outbreak of hostilities, leaving his son a 
merchant in Philadelphia. Tench Tilghman's mother was 
the daughter of Tench Francis, Esquire, Attorney-Gen- 
eral of Pennsylvania. He was a founder and one of the 
first Trustees of the University. With Franklin he drew 
up its constitution and rules of government. His grand- 
father assumed the direction of young Tilghman's educa- 
tion and he entered the College in 1758, graduating A.B. 
in 1761. Soon after Lexington and Concord, Tench Tilgh- 
man became a lieutenant in " The Silk Stockings," a com- 
pany composed of the young men of the best social position 
in Philadelphia. When it was merged into Washington's 
Army Tilghman was Captain. Trained in filial piety and 
the reverence of a son he found himself violating some of 
the tenderest sentiments of his nature, but in his relations 
with his father during the war there never was an alienation 
of feeling but nmtual affection and respect was cherished 
to the end. 

166 



THE UNIVERSITY 



Thus disregarding pecuniary interests, personal com- 
fort and family ties, Tench Tilglmian became the most 
trusted and nearest of Washington's aides, " master of the 
most valuable secrets of the cabinet and the field " and 
proof against the many attempts made to alarm the gen- 
eral's suspicions as to his being near his person. In 
August, 1776, he became a member of Washington's fam- 
ily and served as his military aide and secretary throughout 
the war, being in every action in which the main army was 
engaged. 

Upon the surrender of Cornwallis, Washington selected 
Colonel Tilghman to bear the news to Thomas McKean 
(A.M. 1763, LL.D. 1785 and president of the Board of 
Trustees of the University) , president of the Congress then 
in session in Philadelphia. . He asked, too, that the merits 
of his aide be " honoured by the notice of your Excellency 
and Congress." The messenger reached Philadelphia in 
four days, having spread the joyful news to an anxious 
countryside. McKean was awakened in the middle of 
the night and the news given to the aroused city, the watch- 
man calling " Cornwallis is taken " with their announce- 
ment of the hours. Congress presented Colonel Tilghman 
with a sword and horse fully accoutred. When Washing- 
ton resigned his commission in that memorable scene before 
the Congress at Annapolis, Tench Tilghman stood by his 
side as they faced the President of Congress, Thomas 
Mifflin, of the Class of 1760. 

At the Commencement of 1783 Washington was given 
the degree of Doctor of Laws, although he did not receive 
it in person until he was in Philadelphia in December, on 
his way to Annapolis to resign his commission. 

It has already been mentioned that Washington had 
a high regard for James Wilson. In 1790 when he was 

167 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



President and Judge Wilson was made Professor of Law 
at the University he attended, on December loth, the intro- 
ductory lecture in College Hall which was the beginning 
of the first law school in America. ]Mrs. Washington 
accompanied the President on this important occasion, as 
did also the Vice-President John Adams, both houses of 
Congress, President Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania and 
both houses of the Legislature, " together ^vith a great 
number of ladies and gentlemen, the whole composing a 
most brilliant and respectable audience," 

As has been said, Washington placed his nephew Bush- 
rod under James Wilson for the study of the law. He 
became a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. Two other nephews, George Steptoe and Augus- 
tine Washington, were entered in the College by their uncle 
and were of the Class of 1792. 

After he returned to ]Mt. Vernon for his last years, 
Elisha Cullen Dick, of the Class of 1782 JNIedicine, who 
was settled in practice at Alexandria, Virginia, became 
one of the family physicians. He was the Worshipful 
Master of the Masonic Order in the District of Colmnbia 
and walked arm in arm with Washington when the corner- 
stone of the Capitol was laid. Dr. Dick was the first to 
arrive at the bedside of the dying General and remained 
with him until the end. 

Dr. James Craik, another almmius of the University, 
was not only the family physician but a life-long friend. 
He spent much time with Washington from the French 
wars of 1754! until the General's last moments. " Doctor, 
I die hard, but I am not afraid to go," were the last words 
and as the end came Dr. Craik put his hands over the eyes 
of the great man who expired without a struggle or sigh. 

168 



THE UNIVERSITY 



On Washington's birthday in 1794, at noon, the faculty 
waited upon him in person to present their felicitations, 
which he graciously acknowledged. Since 1826 the Uni- 
versity of which he was the friend and patron has cele- 
brated his birthday as an especial occasion to do honour to 
one who is " enrolled in the catalogue of her sons," hoping, 
as did those early fathers, that " the rising generation 
under our care, when hereafter they shall see their names 
enrolled with yours, will be fired with emulation to copy 
your distinguished virtues, and learn (from your example) 
to grow great in the service of their country." 

The importance and usefulness of a University can 
best be determined by the careers of the sons whom she 
has equipped and this brief glimpse of some of them may 
perhaps yield an idea of the place which the University of 
Pennsylvania held in the early days. The list of graduates 
who have been Attorneys-General and Justices of Supreme 
Courts in both State and Nation is a considerable one and 
of Governors of many States there are not a few. Of 
Commanders-in-Chief of the United States Army there 
have been three — Anthony Wayne, Jacob Brown and 
George B. McClellan, and of Cabinet officers seven. In 
literature, art, science, religion and education the list is 
obviously too long to give here. 

In 1779 the men who had once ruled the colony, driven 
from office and power and almost even from social influ- 
ence, were gathered together in the College. These were 
men like Robert Morris and James Wilson, signers of the 
Declaration of Independence. It seemed to be the object 
of President Reed of the Supreme Executive Council of 
the State to drive such men out of prominence and the 
destruction of the College seemed to be the final blow in 
this design. Reed's party, called the Constitutionalists, 

169 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



had already handled the College as roughly as they could. 
Tliey had quartered soldiers in it, suspended the functions 
of its Trustees and called it a nest of Tories and traitors, 
although there was nothing to justify the accusation, and 
its officers had been among the most distinguished patriots. 
All but three of the twenty-four Trustees had taken the 
oath of allegiance. The attack indeed was not on account 
of the so-called Tories in the Board but on account of the 
patriots in it who differed politically from the Constitu- 
tionalists. The spoiling of the College was consummated 
in 1779, the charter declared void, the Board of Trustees 
and Faculty dissolved and the property given to new 
Tioistees of the Constitutionalist party, who were to be 
called the University of The State of Pennsylvania. Pro- 
vost Smith was banished to IVIaryland where he founded 
Washington College. 

The Assembly seem to have supposed that great uni- 
versities could be created on paper. They destroyed a 
true college, the slow growth of years, containing the first 
and greatest medical school in America, and put in its 
place a sham. For the next eleven years there were two 
colleges in Philadelphia, both of them worthless. 

The old Trustees of the College kept up a struggle 
for the restoration of their property, which was successful 
in 1789. Fisher says " But they could not restore the past 
or bring back life. The wound had been too deep. The 
eleven years of death had broken up the tone, the tradi- 
tions, and the sjiint of the old College of Philadelphia, and 
it never could be made to live again. Its rival, the State 
University, was still alongside of it, and within a year or 
two it became evident that neither one was accomplishing 
anytliing. A union was suggested and effected, and a third 

170 




HOUSE BUILT FOR PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, SOI rilWl.sr ( DRNKR MNTII AND 
MARKET STREETS, OCCUPIED BY THE UNIVKKSITV lSU2-ls.i9 




IN THE MUSEUM COURTYARD AT THE UNIVERSITY, 1917 



THE UNIVERSITY 



institution appeared, which was the present University of 
Pennsjdvania." 

"But the Provost was not connected with it, and it is 
doubtful whether he ever cared to be. Its Board of Trus- 
tees was made up of representatives from every party, 
cHque, and faction in the city, in the hope that the more 
dissimilar and disunited they were the more they would 
work in harmony. It was a miserable failure. From the 
year 1794 to the year 1830 this hotch-potch University 
graduated an average of twelve students a year in the 
department of arts, and sometimes went down as low as 
three. The only part of it which managed to pull itself 
together and make a name was the medical school, which 
shows how strongly rooted among us are institutions of 
science. It was not until after the Civil War that the 
healing effects of time and the energetic administration of 
Dr. Stille began to restore some of the ancient strength 
and usefulness." 

The old buildings at Fourth and Arch Streets event- 
ually became too contracted and too badly situated for 
further usefulness, and the minds of the Trustees were 
turned toward the securing of a new location. On Ninth 
Street, between Market and Chestnut, there was a large 
and handsome building erected at the expense of the state 
as a dwelling place for the President of the United States, 
when it was expected that Philadelphia would remain the 
national capital. But destiny chose a far different spot 
for the White House, and the Philadelphia presidential 
mansion remained untenanted. In 1802 this building was 
secured for the College, which immediately emigrated 
thither from its old Fourth Street home. Alterations 
and additions were made from time to time, till in 1829 it 
was torn down and two buildings were put up on the same 

171 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



site, one for the Department of Arts, one for the ^ledical 
School. In 1825 the College course was raised from three 
to four years, entrance requirements made more rigorous, 
and then, or not long previously, a rule was made that 
students should not be admitted under fourteen years 
of age. 

With the middle of the century, a nmnber of scientific 
courses in the College were successivelj^ established, addi- 
tional members were added to the facult}', and several 
professors of strong personality and influence were teach- 
ing simultaneously. 

A few years later, in 1872, a great break with the past 
was made by the removal from the centre of the cit\' to 
West Philadelphia. This proved to be the beginning of a 
new life, especially as it coincided with the administration 
of a new Provost, Dr. Stille. What the Fourth Street 
location had become by 1802, the Ninth Street site had 
become by 1872. It w^as surrounded and hemmed in by 
the world of business. In West Philadelphia the Univer- 
sity had elbow-room, and it began promptly to take advan- 
tage of its opportunity for expansion. In the years imme- 
diately succeeding was erected the original group of four 
buildings, consisting of College Hall, Medical Hall, the 
INIedical Laboratory, and the University Hospital. All 
these buildings were of green serpentine stone. 

Between 1880 and 1890, during Dr. Pepper's provost- 
ship, several more buildings were erected, among these the 
Libi-ary, the present Botanical Building, and the old Veter- 
inary buildings, which have since given way to the new 
INIedical laboratories, erected in 1904. Between 1890 and 
1900 the additions to the L^niversity group of buildings 
included the Observatory, the beginning of the Dormitory 
system, the Harrison I^aboratory of Chemistr}% the 

172 



THE UNIVERSITY 



Museum, Wistar Institute, Houston Hall, Dental Hall, 
and the Law School. During this period the direction of 
the University passed from Dr. Pepper to Charles Custis 
Harrison, LL.D., whose term of office as Provost dated 
from 1894 to 1910, Vice-Provost Edgar F. Smith, Sc.D., 
LL.D., succeeding him in office. 

Since 1900 the physical equipment of the University 
has been materially augumented, the erection of the fol- 
lowing buildings attesting a period of remarkable develop- 
ment and extension : the new Medical laboratories, already 
referred to ; the Engineering Building; the Veterinary Hall 
and Hospital; the Gymnasium; the Training House and 
Franklin Field; the remodelling of the University Hos- 
pital; enlargement of the Museum of Science and Art, 
additions to the Dormitories; the School of Dentistry; 
the Women's Dormitory, The Phipps Institute for the 
Study, Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis; and 
the University Settlement House. The new building 
for the Graduate School will shortly be constructed, and 
a site for the Wharton School building has been chosen. 
In addition, the University has acquired, by grant from 
the city, a neighbouring tract of about fifty acres, which 
extends the campus to the western edge of the Schuylkill 
River, and gives it a total acreage of one hundred and 
seventeen, exclusive of streets and sidewalks. 

But after all, the campus and buildings are only the 
shell of the University. It is the history of the life within 
them which is important. During the period from 1870 to 
1913, a number of new departments of study were estab- 
lished, in the Scientific courses, in Biology, in Finance and 
Economy, in Architecture, in Dentistry, in Music, in Vet- 
erinary Medicine, in Education, and in the Graduate 

173 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



School, in addition to corresponding extensions of the old 
departments, the College, and the Medical and the Law 
Schools; the separation of the Wharton School and the 
Towne Scientific School from the College in 1912 was an 
important administrative change. The number of students 
in all departments had risen from less than a thousand, in 
1870, to 9000 in 1916, and the number of instructors from 
less than fifty to more than six hundred. Representatives 
from every state of the Union and forty-one foreign coun- 
tries are included in the student enrollment. 



THE LAW ACADEMY 




^ S early as 1783 there was a society in 
Philadelphia composed of students 
preparing for admission to the Bar, 
of which Bushrod Washington, John 
Wilkes Kittera and Peter Stephen 
Duponceau were members. Bushrod 
Washington was the favourite 
nephew of the President and was placed by him under 
the tutelage of James Wilson, founder and first professor 
of the Law Department in the University, the first on the 
Continent. Both Wilson and Washington became Justices 
of the Supreme Court of the United States. There was 
another society about 1778 which numbered among its 
members Robert Morris and Joseph Hopkinson. The 
latter was admitted to practice in 1791 and is distinguished 
further as the author of " Hail Columbia." His defense 
of Justice Chase on his impeachment before the Senate of 
the United States was noteworthy. He became a Federal 
Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and was 
on the bench until his death in 1842. 

In 1811 a Law Society was formed and elected Mr. 
Duponceau to preside at its discussions. The duration of 
all these societies is lost in obscurity, as is the life of that 
headed by Thomas M. Pettit, John K. Kane and John N. 
Conyngham in 1818. In 1820 a new association was formed 
and Mr. Duponceau again consented to act as President. 
An association of Judges and members of the bar took it 
under its wing and erected it into a Law Academy subject 
to regular discipline under a Provost, Vice-Provost and a 
Board of Trustees. Accordingly, Mr. Duponceau was 
elected Provost and James Gibson Vice-Provost. The 
Academy was formally opened on February 21st, 1821. 

175 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Peter S. Duponceau, the first Provost of the Law Acad- 
emy, was a Preiichnian who had been educated for the min- 
istry, becoming' indeed a tonsured Monsieur TAbbe. At 
the age of 15 he was made a Regent at the Episcopal Col- 
lege of Bussiere and had a class in Latin. His colleagues, 
annoyed at the equality with themselves given to a mere 
boy, made life miserable for him and he went to Paris, 
where he lived by translating English books into French. 
Through Beamnarchais he became associated with Baron 
Steuben as Secretary and set out with him from Marseilles 
to volunteer in the service of the new Republic. This little 
event reminds us that the services of Baron Steuben were 
of French and not German origin. Duponceau became a 
Captain in the Continental Army and passed a wretched 
winter at Valley Forge. He was advanced to be Baron 
Steuben's aide-de-camp when that officer became a Major- 
General. Consumption seized him in 1779 but by a life in 
the saddle he regained his health and after the war was 
appointed to an office in the office of Foreign Affairs. 
He studied law with William Lewis and was admitted 
to practice in 1785, becoming one of the leaders at the Bar. 

Thomas Sergeant succeeded INIr. Duponceau as Pro- 
vost of the Law Academy in 1844 and continued until 1855, 
when George Sharswood was elected. The work of the 
Academy consists in the preparation and argument of cases 
by students and young members of the Bar before Judges 
of the Philadelphia Courts. It is of the greatest practical 
help to these struggling young men not only in encour- 
aging habits of thought along well-directed lines but in 
facility of expression and deliveiy. 

George Sharswood was a worthy descendant at the 
Bar of that long line of Pliiladelphia legal talent whose 
ornaments had been such men as Isaac Xorris, Andrew 

176 



THE LAW ACADEMY 



Hamilton, William Allen, Benjamin Chew, James Wilson, 
Tench Francis, Edward Shippen, Thomas McKean, 
William Tilghman, Francis and Joseph Hopkinson, 
Joseph Reed, Jared Ingersoll, Alexander J. Dallas, 
Richard Peters, David Paul Brown, William Rawle, John 
Sergeant, Eli K. Price, John Cadwalader, Charles 
Chauncey, Jr., James Thompson, Horace Binney, William 
M. Meredith, and many others. Mr. Sharswood was Presi- 
dent Judge of the City Courts and associated Justice of 
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was professor 
of law in the University and an industrious legal author. 
He was followed by J. I. Clark Hare and James T. 
Mitchell, both able jurists. 

Under the present Provostship of Judge Wilson the 
Law Academy continues its useful existence. Although 
the records of the early societies have been lost their object 
and service was so similar to the present Law Academy 
that it may well claim an existence from so early a time 
as to distinguish it as the oldest in the country. 



12 



THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 




LTHOUGH Gabriel Thomas tells 
us in 1698 that there is no need for 
La^\^'ers or Physicians because the 
country is " very Peaceable and 
Healthy," yet there were some of 
each in Philadelphia at a very early 
date to begin her continued reputa- 
tion for both professions. Two trained Welsh physicians, 
Thomas Wynne and Griffith Owen came with Penn in 
the Welcome and found constant occupation in fighting 
smallpox, measles and yellow fever. Following these two 
came Dr. John Kearsley and Dr. Thomas Graeme and 
then that brilliant group — Lloyd Zachary, Thomas Cad- 
walader, William Shippen, Sr., Thomas and Phineas 
Bond, John Redman and John Bard, all trained abroad 
in London, Edinburgh or Leyden. We have learned how 
John JNIorgan saw the necessity for better means of study 
at home and founded the first medical school on the Conti- 
nent at his Alma Mater, the University of Pennsylvania. 
Twenty years after this notable begimiing there were 
enough successful practitioners in Philadelphia to feel a 
desire for a union through which, by discussion and re- 
search, they could mutually assist each other in the progress 
of their profession. The earliest record of their meeting 
is January 2, 1787, when Dr. John Redman was chosen 
President and the first Tuesday of every month chosen 
for regular meetings. Nine senior and four junior fellows 
were present and the senior fellows were limited to twelve, 
with no limit on the juniors. Dr. Benjamin Rush read the 
first scientific paper " On the ]Means of Promoting ^ledical 
Knowledge." The membership for the first year was 29 
and the meetings were held in the building of the University 

178 



THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 



in Fourth Street near Arch. The College moved in 1791 
to the hall of the American Philosophical Society, where a 
room was fitted up for their use. 

The College was diligent in addresses to the City and 
State Governments on the public health, and as early as 
1793 advocated the cleanliness of the streets as a preventive 
of disease. It also took a very active part in deahng with 
the regulation of the practice of physic within the State, 
the establishment of a quarantine and a hospital for con- 
tagious diseases. 

Thomas Wynne and Griffith Owen were " concerned 
Friends," the former taking an active part in politics and 
the latter in preaching. Thomas Graeme and John 
Kearsley were also active in politics and Kearsley has 
left us a masterpiece in Christ Chui-ch of which he was the 
architect. He was an able speaker and his eloquent ad- 
dresses in the Colonial Assembly on the rights of Americans 
often caused him to be carried home on the shoulders of the 
people. John Redman, John Bard and Lloyd Zachary 
studied under Kearsley. The last was a gifted and devoted 
physician, teacher of students and faithful in his service 
to the hospital. Associated with him were the Bonds, the 
younger, Phineas, having studied in London, Paris, Edin- 
burgh and Ley den. Dr. Thomas Cadwalader studied 
abroad and became physician, philanthropist and man of 
affairs. He was a founder of the Library and Hospital, 
a Provincial Councillor and Trustee of the University. His 
descendants form a long line of patriots, jurists and dis- 
tinguished citizens. 

Dr. William Shippen was for a long time one of the 
leading physicians and is thought to have received his early 
training imder one of the Welsh " chirurgeons " brought 
over by William Penn. He was a modest man and once on 

179 



EARLY rHILADELPHIA 



being congratulated upon his success, remarked, " Xatui-e 
does a great deal, and the grave covers up our mistakes." 
Dr. Shippen's son, William, studied abroad and attained 
much distinction. Dm'ing the Revolution he was director- 
general of the iMedical Department of the Continental 
Army from 1777 to 1781. 

John jNIorgan studied abroad after graduation from the 
College, now the University, and on his return urged upon 
the Trustees the foundation of a jMedical Department. 
There were several physicians on the Board and the ardent 
proposal of the young student backed by indorsement from 
many and exalted sources prevailed and he was elected the 
first professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in 
1765. His address at the ensuing Commencement acquired 
much notoriety and his prediction that the example thus 
set would be copied by other institutions and thus " spread 
the light of knowledge throughout the whole American 
continent " has been amj^ly fulfilled. An early associate 
in the University was Dr. Adam Kuhn, who studied abroad 
and became Professor of Botany and INlateria ^Nledica. 

Perhaps the most distinguished of Dr. John Redman's 
pupils was Benjamin Rush, who also studied under Dr. 
Shippen and abroad. He brought home a chemical appa- 
ratus presented to the University by Thomas Penn and a 
recommendation from him and was unanimously elected 
to the Chair of Chemistry in 1769. Dr. Rush was an 
author of prominence and had a talent for public discussion. 
His oration before the Philosophical Society on the history 
of medicine among the Indians, with a comparison of their 
diseases and remedies with those of civilized nations made 
him famous. The feature of this address was his discussion 
of the evils of the intemperate use of intoxicating liquors 
which was the first instance of such a discussion in Phila- 

180 



THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 



delphia. Dr. Rush was a member of the Continental Con- 
gress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 
Shortly afterward he became Sm-geon-General of the 
Army for the ^liddle Department, but his participation 
in the Conway Cabal for the removal of General Wash- 
ington soon led to his resignation. Dr. Rush's part in the 
yellow fever outbreak of 1793 was notable. He adopted 
a heroic practice which he boldly asserted was of domestic 
and not foreign origin and it raised loud outcries against 
him. He kept going day and night during this terrible 
year, sometimes fainting in the street from exhaustion, yet 
attending more than a hundred patients in twenty-four 
hours. His never-forgotten note-book was always at hand 
and from it he wrote the history of the plague. His death 
caused universal sorrow, only exceeded, it was thought, by 
that at the death of Washington. The College of Phy- 
sicians was established mainly through his influence. 

Its first President, Dr. John Redman, has been fre- 
quently refen*ed to as a teacher of medicine. He began 
practice in Bermuda after studying with Dr. John Kears- 
ley and then completed his studies in Edinburgh, Paris, and 
Leyden. For more than half a century he lived in Second 
Street near Arch, retiring from active practice many years 
before his death. In his later years he used to visit his old 
friends on a fat pony mare which he hitched to the turn- 
buckle of the mansion shutter, so that she always stood 
on the foot-pavement. Greatly respected for his learning 
and good sense he was also notable for his antiquated 
appearance. He usually wore a broad-skirted dark coat, 
with long pocket-flaps, buttoned across his under dress, and 
wearing, in strict conformity to the cut of the coat, a pair 
of Baron Steuben's military-shaped boots, coming above 
the knees. " His hat flapped before and cocked up smartly 

181 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



behind, covering a full-buttoned powdered wig, in the front 
of which might be seen an eagle-pointed nose, separating a 
pair of piercing black eyes, his lips exhibiting, but only now 
and then, a quick motion, as though at the moment he was 
endeavouring to extract the essence of a small quid." Thus 
almost daily he was to be seen on his short, fat, black, 
switch-tailed mare riding in a brisk rocking canter about 
the streets. 

Dr. Samuel Bard, educated abroad, was selected as 
Washington's physician in Philadelphia and served faith- 
fully in the yellow fever outbreak, almost perishing of it 
himself. Dr. John Jones also attended Washington in 
Philadelphia, and Franklin, too. He was the first Vice- 
President of the College of Physicians. Dr. Caspar Wistar 
and Dr. James Hutchinson were men of influence and note. 
Both studied abroad and both served the University well. 
Dr. Wistar was President of the American Philosophical 
Society and a gentleman of wide influence and learning. 
INIore of him is told in another place. These are some of 
the early physicians who were interested in the College. 
William Shippen, Jr., followed Dr. Redman as President, 
and Dr. Adam Kulin succeeded him. Like every institu- 
tion, it had its ups and downs. In 1818 there were but 18 
Fellows. In 1820, in answering a request of the municipal 
authorities for guidance in dealing with an epidemic of a 
" pestilential disease " a committee composed of Doctors 
Hewson, Griflitts and Emlen recommended " the prosecu- 
tion of the plan now in contemplation for removing the 
whole of the buildings from the east side of Front Street, 
inclusive, to the river, beginning at Vine and ending at 
South Street, according to the original plan of William 
Penn, the wise and intelligent founder of our City." Here 
was the great plan again, but it was not carried out. 

182 



THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 



In 1827 each Fellow was compelled to read an original 
paper at each stated meeting and the hour of meeting was 
changed from the afternoon to the evening at seven from 
October to March and at eight from April to September. 
In 1845 the College moved into the building of the Mer- 
cantile Library Company at the southeast corner of Fifth 
and Library Streets, where the third floor was occupied. 
In 1854 another move was made when the " picture house " 
of the Pennsylvania Hospital was leased. Two years after- 
ward Dr. Mutter made an offer of his valuable collection 
of pathological specimens and a sum of $30,000 for a lec- 
turer and additions provided the collection was placed in a 
fire-proof building. By diligent effort the College was 
able to avail itself of the generous offer and in 1863 the 
building at Thirteenth and Locust Streets was ready for 
occupation, being then, however, of only two stories. The 
third story was added in 1883 and the College remained 
here until 1908, when a handsome new building was erected 
at Twenty-second and Ludlow Streets. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY 
OF THE FINE ARTS 




£)E have already seen how the Quakers 
gave the first inspiration to the fine 
arts in the new world when they sent 
forth young Benjamin West with the 
sanction and blessing of his jNIeeting 
to improve the wonderful gift God 
had given to him. Charles Wilson 
Peale, like West, was a Pennsylvanian. After the Revolu- 
tion portrait-painting was exceedingly fashionable in all 
American cities and Washington set an example by being 
painted over and over again. Peale and his fellow artists 
were kept busy painting Philadelphia's great men, and, 
above all, her handsome daughters, as noted apparently 
for their charms as were their English great-grandmothers 
in the gay days of the second Charles. Peale was a man of 
extraordinary resource and indefatigable genius. He was 
a Captain of Volunteers in the Battle of Trenton, a por- 
trait painter of merit, a saddler, clockmaker, silversmith, 
glass-moulder, taxidermist, dentist, modeller and engraver. 
He expressed his reverence for art by naming his six chil- 
dren Raphael, Rembrandt, Vandj'ke, Titian, Rubens, and 
Angelica KaufFman. 

In 1791 he began a collection of paintings and sculpture 
which he later called a Columbianum, and founded a school 
of art. His associates were William Rush, the wood- 
carver, and Guiseppe Ceracchi, a Roman sculptor, all of 
such different and positive natures that they soon dis- 
banded. Peale then began a collection of rarities in the 
Philosophical Hall of the State House with a plaster cast 
of Venus de ^Sledici brought to Philadelphia by Robert 
Edge Pine, as a nucleus about which was built a class in 

184 



THE ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS 

drawing. Pine was not permitted to keep this statue in 
his studio where it could be generally seen and the nymph 
carved by Rush, which is now in Fairmount Park, caused 
a storm of protest when placed in Centre Square, although 
amply draped. So we may see the obstacles placed in the 
path of art by the inconsistent public, whose conceptions 
of propriety were nevertheless not shocked by the portraits 
of Philadelphia belles with bosoms unveiled to the careless 
eyes of men. 

Peale finding no one willing to act as a model for the 
life-class in his school, stood himself and bared his hand- 
some torso to instruct his ambitious pupils. As an adver- 
tiser he seems to have adopted modern methods, for he 
gave a supper party of thirteen within the ribs of a mam- 
moth skeleton which he had in his museum. All failed 
together, however, sculpture hall, gallery of paintings and 
life-class, but the tireless worker and enthusiast, nothing 
daunted, kept at it and the day after Christmas, 1805, 
collected the men who were the founders of the oldest insti- 
tution dedicated to fine arts in the United States. Their 
charter was granted in 1806 and Peale lived to contribute 
to seventeen annual exhibitions of the new institution. 

Of the 71 signers of the horny brown sheepskin of the 
compact in the Declaration room of the State House, 
Joseph Hopkinson, the author of " Hail Columbia," seems 
to have been the greatest influence for executive and 
cementing strength. George Clymer was chosen president 
and William Tilghman, William Rawle, Moses Levy, 
Joseph Hopkinson, Joseph B. McKean, William Mere- 
dith, William Rush, John R. Cox, M.D., John Dorsey, 
William Poyntell, Thomas C. James, M.D., and Charles 
Wilson Peale, Directors. As President, Mr. Clymer has 
been succeeded by the following line : Joseph Hopkinson, 

185 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Joseph Dugan, Edward L. Carey, Joseph R. Ingersoll, 
Henry D. Gilpin, Caleb Cope, James S. Claghorn, George 
S. Pepper, Edward H. Coates, Henry Whelen and John 
Frederick Lewis. 

The early meetings were held at Judge Hopkinson's 
house and the fii'st building was at Tenth and Chestnut 
Streets, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, a lover of 
classic architecture, and the designer of the old water works 
in Centre Square. The appearance of the building was of 
a simple, impressive Greek style with broad marble steps 
leading up to a portico whose pediment was supported by 
a pair of Ionic columns. 

Under the direction of Nicholas Biddle, then secretary 
of legation at Paris, a number of copies of statuary were 
made and purchased, representing gems collected by 
Napoleon in his conquests. With these the Academy was 
formally opened to the public by President Clymer in 
March, 1806. The collection grew and it became the cus- 
tom to give or bequeath works of art to it. The casts which 
Nicholas Biddle sent over from the Louvre models stood 
the town on end and the managers were obliged to set 
apart one day in each week for female visitors, when the 
nude figures were swathed from head to feet in muslin 
sheets ! 

In 1812 twenty-one paintings and fifty-two engravings 
were collected by Joseph Allen Smith, who despatched 
them from Italy for the Academy in The Marquis de 
Somernclos, an American ship. She was captured by a 
British cruiser and taken to Halifax, where a creditable 
bit of magnanimity was displayed, especially in view of the 
fact tliat swarms of American privateers were at that 
time driving English merchantmen from the sea. The 
Academy's application to recover its consignment was de- 

186 



THE ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS 



cided favourably by the Honourable Alexander Croke, 
JLL.D., in a court of Vice-Admiralty at Halifax. It was a 
handsome piece of justice liberally interpreted and out of 
all harmony with some of the customs of modern warfare. 
" Heaven forbid," said Mr. Croke, " that such an applica- 
tion to the generosity of Great Britain should ever be in- 
effectual!" He mentions the innumerable cases of the 
mutual exercise of this courtesy between nations in former 
wars and " if such cases were unlieard of every Briton 
would be anxious that his country should set the honourable 
example." He finishes with a compliment to the " very 
eminent American President of the Royal Academy " in 
London and confidently foresees a time when England and 
America " shall know no other enmity than a liberal rivalry 
in every elegant and manly accomplishment," and then 
decrees restitution. 

West, Peale, Sully and Stuart were represented in 
the collection when the fire of 1845, attributed to a maniac 
relative of the jani tress, destroyed the Academy's building. 
The edifice was much injured and although there were 
many brave acts the more ponderous contents were lost. 
The volunteer fire companies, as was often the case, 
damaged more than they saved in their unintelligent zeal. 
The structure was rebuilt on the old site and after the old 
design and it served well until the removal to the present 
site in 1876. After this the building became Fox's Theatre 
and later was entirely transformed. 

In 1886 Fairman Rogers, Professor Schussele and 
Thomas Eakins established the new school which has be- 
come so justly famous. In 1890 President Edward H. 
Coates inaugurated the annual private views and recep- 
tions, and many of the present generation remember the 

187 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



concerts on Thursday afternoons by the Germania Orches- 
tra under William Stoll which were so popular. 

The Academy was the recipient of several notable col- 
lections of historical American portraits. It contains a 
noble group of portraits by Gilbert Stuart and an ancestral 
picture gallery of Philadelphia displaying persons of wit, 
beauty and genius by Sulh% Neagle, Juman, Peak and 
others. 

The annual exhibitions are universally considered the 
most notable in the country. 



THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL 
SCIENCES 




WO young men, a chemist and a 
dentist, called together a few friends 
in their own walk in life, rented a 
little room over a little shop, placed 
in it, with infinite pride, a dozen 
stuffed birds and a jar or two of 
reptiles, and met there at night to 
discuss " the operations of nature," pledging themselves 
wisely to leave politics and religion entirely out of their 
debates. From this modest beginning sprang the Phila- 
delphia Academy of Natural Sciences, the oldest institu- 
tion of its kind in America, which has diffused knowledge 
over the eastern states and counted among its members 
the scholars and scientists of the land. These two young 
men were John Speakman and Jacob Gilliams, who 
thought that if their friends could come together at stated 
times where they would be free from interruption and 
could discuss what they knew of the natural sciences it 
would be more pleasant and profitable than desultory talk. 
Accordingly, such a meeting was held at Speakman's 
house at the northwest corner of Second and High Streets 
on Saturday evening, January 25, 1812, and there were 
present besides the host. Doctors Gerard Troost and 
Camillies Macmahon Mann, with Jacob Gilliams, John 
Shinn, Jr., and Nicholas S. Parmentier. The meeting is 
described as " a meeting of gentlemen, friends of science 
and of rational disposure of leisure moments " and it was 
agreed that the exclusive object of the society should be 
the cultivation of the natural sciences. 

There were not many in the city who cared for this 
subject and there were no displaj'^s to awaken curiosity or 
libraries to satisfy it had it existed. There were two or 

189 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



three collections of minerals belonging to gentlemen who 
had brought them from Em-ope, but they were not acces- 
sible to the public. Those interested in the subject were 
all busy in making a living during the day and occasional 
gossip at inns did not help them much in the search for 
exact knowledge. 

In order not to be a burden on ]SIr. Speakman's hospi- 
tality the early meetings were held at ^Mercer's Cake Shop 
on High Street, near the corner of Franklin Place, and 
the title. Academy of Natural Sciences, was first used on 
March 21, 1812. It was suggested by Dr. Samuel Jackson 
of the University, and at this meeting Thomas Say was 
included as a founder. 

John Speakman was a Friend and his apothecary shop 
was one of the centres of literary and scientific gossip. 
Jacob Gilliams was a leading dentist, John Shinn, Jr., a 
manufacturing chemist, Nicholas S. Parmentier, a dis- 
tiller of spermaceti oil, Gerard Troost, a manufacturing 
chemist and the first President of the Academy and 
Dr. Camillies Macmahon ]\Iann the first Recording Secre- 
tary. Thomas Say was associated in business with Speak- 
man and a born naturalist. It was due to his devotion that 
the Academy was kept alive. 

In April a small second-story room in a house on the 
east side of Second Street, near Race, was rented and the 
nucleus of tlie present library and museum formed. Each 
member gave something and in September the collections 
were removed to larger quarters on Second Street, north 
of Arch, then Number 78. The year closed with fourteen 
members and thirty-three correspondents. The next two 
years were more prosperous and lectures were given by 
Mr. Say and Doctors Waterhouse and Barnes. 

At the beginning of 1815 the need of increased accom- 
modations again necessitated a removal and ^Nlr. Gilliams 

190 



THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 

built a hall in the rear of his father's house on the north 
side of Arch Street east of Second, to which the collections 
were moved in July. At the instance of Mr. Maclure, 
the Academy decided to publish a Journal and the first 
number appeared May 20, 1817. 

By 1820 there were one hundred members and one 
hundi-ed and ninety correspondents on the roll. In 1823 
new quarters seemed necessary and in 1826 a building at 
the southeast corner of Twelfth and Sansom Streets was 
purchased for $4300. This had been used as a place of 
worship for Swedenborgians and $1700 was expended to 
refit it. Prosperity now attended the Academy and it was 
served by such zealous officers as William Maclure, George 
Ord, John Price Wetherill, William Hembel, William H. 
Keating and Dr. Samuel George Morton. 

The popularity of the institution again caused a need 
for more room in 1839 and a lot at the northwest corner of 
Broad and Sansom was bought and the first meeting held 
in the new building February 18, 1840. The transfer of 
the Hbrary and collections was accomplished at a cost of 
$34, the members giving their time and strength to the 
service so as to save time and expense. The spectacle of 
the dignified scientific citizens ambling through the streets 
with the birds and beasts must have been an edifying one! 

Soon after this Dr. Joseph Leidy was elected to mem- 
bership and for 46 years he exerted a potent influence upon 
the well-being of the institution in all its endeavours. 

The next move was to the present location at Nine- 
teenth and Race Streets in 1868 and the change was com- 
pleted in 1875. Recent appropriations by the State Legis- 
lature have provided a modern fire-proof building for the 
large and valuable collection and library and the publica- 
tion and lecture departments have now become an equally 
important part of the Academy's work. 



THE PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE 
OF PHARMACY 




X Colonial days every well organized 
family had its collection of household 
remedies, consisting largely of plants, 
and the " herb garden " for the culti- 
vation of domestic remedies became 
an established feature. The phy- 
sicians dispensed their own remedies 
or directed their preparation at the home of the patient, 
mainly from such simples as herbs, roots, barks, leaves and 
flowers. The development of the colonies and the growth 
of their commerce brought chemists' stores and apothecary 
shops which sold also paints, dyes, teas, spices and items 
of use and adornment. The successful medical practi- 
tioners opened apothecary shops as dispensaries for sup- 
plying their patients, where the mixing was entrusted to 
an apprentice or beginner in the study of medicine. 

About 1765 Dr. John ^Morgan, who founded the first 
IMedical School on the Continent at the University in that 
year, introduced the writing of prescriptions in Philadel- 
phia and strongly advocated the separation of pharmacy 
and of surgery from the practice of medicine. He pointed 
out their different employments and the different talents 
required by them and showed how each would improve in 
accuracy and skill if not promiscuously followed by one 
man. 

This sound advice gained recognition and the early 
apothecaries of the City were mostly men of good families 
who had, before engaging in business, acquired a good 
academic schooling and were well grounded in the natural 
sciences, and accomplished in mathematics and belles 
lettres. A number were men of social prominence and of 

192 



THE PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY 

great energy, so that they were among the shapers of the 
financial and commercial interests of the City. 

In 1821 the University instituted " the degree of Mas- 
ter of Pharmacy to be conferred on such persons exercising 
or intending to exercise the profession of an apothecary, 
as are, or shall be, duly qualified to receive the same." This 
action looking toward the establishment of a course in phar- 
macy aroused the pride of the apothecaries who determined 
to have a school of their own. Immediately, Peter Lehman, 
of Market below Tenth Street, began an opposition. Call- 
ing on his friend, Henry Troth, a thriving wholesale drug- 
gist, he exclaimed, " Henry, this won't do; the University 
has no right to be taking our boys away at noon to make 
them M.P.'s." Why it had " no right " to perform this 
useful service Peter leaves no record, but his indignation 
was shared by Troth and together they called upon the 
druggists to present the project of founding an institution 
of their own. A meeting was held in Carpenter's Hall 
on February 23, 1821, of which Stephen North was Chair- 
man, and Peter Williamson, Secretary, and a committee 
composed of the following men chosen to organize a College 
of Apothecaries — Samuel Jackson, Daniel B. Smith, 
Robert Milnor, Peter Williamson, Stephen North, Henry 
Troth, Samuel Riddle, Charles Allen and Frederick 
Brown. Sixty-eight of the representative apothecaries of 
the City became charter members of the new college and so 
began pharmaceutical education and degrees in the western 
hemisphere. 

An important declaration of the new institution was that 
it should constantly direct the attention to the qualities of 
articles brought into the drug market, and this was the 
earliest movement for pure drugs and the germ which has 
developed into our present pure food and drug laws. 

18 193 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



On March 27, 1821, the organization was completed 
with Charles Marshall as President, William Lehman and 
Stephen North as Vice-Presidents, William Heyl as 
Treasurer, Daniel B. Smith as Secretary and sixteen prom- 
inent druggists as Trustees. The Trustees organized with 
Samuel P. Wetherill as Chairman and Daniel B. Smith 
as Secretary. Samuel Jackson, M.D., w^as elected Pro- 
fessor of Materia JSIedica and Pharmacy and Gerard 
Troost, M.D., Professor of Chemistry'. The German Hall 
on the east side of Seventh Street below Market was se- 
cured as a lecture hall and remained as the home of the Col- 
lege until 1833 when a four-story building was erected on 
Zane, now Filbert Street. Here the College grew and in 
1868 moved on to the present site at North Tenth Street, 
where it has maintained its leadership through extensive 
additions to equipment, curriculum and faculty. 

The Quaker element preponderated in its inception and 
organization and the influence of Friends has for many 
years decided its management. It holds a unique position 
among the professional schools in that it has never received 
any financial aid from the Commonwealth. 



THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE 




HE association of Benjamin Frank- 
lin with the origin and success of 
Philadelphia's institutions is so fre- 
quent that it is curious that none of 
them existing during his lifetime 
should have borne his name. The 
one which appropriately bears it was 
founded in 1824, 34 years after his death, but it was 
planned to realize the projects supported during his busy 
life and so naively expressed in his will. The common 
thought running through it is the care of the young artif- 
icer, or mechanic. 

After several unsuccessful attempts, two earnest and 
diligent young men, Professor William H. Keating of the 
University, and Samuel V. Merrick, aided by Dr. Robert 
E. Griffith and George W. Smith, called a meeting for 
February 5, 1824, at the County Court House, Sixth and 
Chestnut Streets, and here nearly 500 citizens enrolled 
themselves in the undertaking. The Charter is dated 
March 30, 1824, and names as the objects of the Institute, 
the promotion and encouragement of manufactures and the 
mechanic and useful arts by the establishment of popular 
lectures on the Sciences connected with them, by the forma- 
tion of a cabinet of models and minerals, and a library, by 
offering prizes and examining new inventions. The su- 
preme aim was the instruction of artisans. How harmoni- 
ous all this was, too, with the spirit of William Penn, the 
founder of the City, whose chief concern in his venture was 
that his colonists should be men of industry. 

The professorships were filled by Wilham H. Keating 
in Chemistry, Robert M. Patterson, Natural Philosophy 
and Mechanics and William Strickland in Architecture. 

195 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



The first two held chairs in the University as did subsequent 
professors, Alexander Dallas Bache, great-grandson of 
Benjamin Franklin, John F. Frazer, Henry Reed, Ros- 
well Park, Robert Hare and the brothers James and 
Robert E. Rogers. 

The first course of lectures was delivered in the old 
Academy building of the University on Fourth Street near 
Arch. Among the first pupils in Architecture was Thomas 
Walter, then a bricklayer, afterwards architect of Girard 
College and ultimately of the Capitol at Washington. A 
high school was soon started under Walter R. Johnson, 
out of which grew the present City High School. 

The present building of the Institute on Seventh Street 
near IMarket was begun Jmie 8, 1825, and the publication 
of the Journal soon followed. This Journal has a dis- 
tinguished reputation at home and abroad, is contributed 
to by leaders in different branches of science and is fre- 
quently and widely quoted as an authority. 

The Institute conducted the first exhibition of manu- 
facturers in America at Carpenter's Hall in 1824 and the 
first electrical exhibition in 1884, two notable contributions 
to science both in perfect accord with the great wish of 
Franklin to make the latest discoveries in science applicable 
and available to every day life. 

James Ronaldson was the first President of the Frank- 
lin Institute and served until 1842, when he resigned. He 
was succeeded by Samuel Vaughan IMen'ick, the acknowl- 
edged Founder of the Institute, who resigned in 1855. 

The medal of the Franklin Institute is recognized all 
over the world as the reward of distinguished merit. 



THE ATHENiEUM 




HILADELPHIA is noted for an 
organizing spirit. If the Philadel- 
phian has anything to do or a pet idea 
to promulgate he immediately sets to 
work to found a Society for that spe- 
cific purpose, chooses officers and 
:^^^^ adopts a constitution. This would 
seem to indicate that he is a social animal, and so he is, pro- 
vided he is surrounded by his " set." In spite of the exist- 
ence of the Library Company, the Philosophical Society, 
the University and the Academy of Natural Sciences a 
number of gentlemen assembled at the house of Roberts 
Vaux about the close of the year 1813 for the purpose of 
establishing a reading room in Philadelphia where they 
could collect books of reference on politics, literature and 
science, maps and dictionaries, to be accessible at all hours 
of the day. They had in view such gradual acquisitions as 
might lay the foundations of a large and useful public 
library. They looked forward, also, to the establishment 
of lectui'eships on science and a collection of mineral, 
botanical and other specimens illustrative of natural 
history. 

Considerable interest was manifested in tliis project 
for an athenseum, and the subscribers met in January, 
1814, to agree upon the objects of the institution. On the 
9th of February, with 200 subscribers, an organization was 
effected with William Tilghman, LL.D., president; Dr. 
James Mease, vice-president; Roberts Vaux, treasurer; 
Robert H. Smith, secretary, and James Gibson, Samuel 
Ewing, Richard C. Wood, Thomas I. Wharton, Alexander 
S. Coxe, Benjamin Chew, Jr., Nicholas Biddle, Daniel W. 
Coxe, William H. Dillingham, John C. Lowber and Jonah 
Thompson, managers. 

197 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



The reading room of the Society was established in the 
second story of Mathew Carey's book-store at the south- 
west corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets and the asso- 
ciation incorporated April 5, 1815. In a couple of years 
they moved to Dulief's building, Number 118 Chestnut 
Street at the corner of Carpenter's Court, and then to the 
first story of the hall of the American Philosophical Soci- 
ety. Here they rendered a distinct service to the com- 
munity by obtaining all the leading American and foreign 
magazines and reviews — literary, scientific, and historical 
— as well as 55 newspapers. The number of stockholders 
had increased to 400 and there were 125 subscribers who 
had the privileges of the library and reading room. 

William Lehman was one of the most interested and 
generous members of the Athenanmi and in 1829 left by 
will the sum of $10,000 for the construction of a suitable 
building. By careful investment, and some additions, this 
smn had increased by 1845 to a sufficient amount to pro- 
ceed and the cornerstone of a new building on Sixth Street 
below Walnut was laid on November 1st of that year. John 
Notman was the architect, he also being the ai'chitect of 
beautiful St. Mark's Church. 

The Society occupies the second floor, which is a place 
of great architectural beauty. On the Sixth Street front 
is the newspaper room finished in pilasters with an enriched 
cornice and cove to the ceiling. It is a large and lofty room, 
delicate and refined in its ornamentation and tint. In the 
back of the building is the library, 37 x 65 feet, and 24 
feet high, finished with Corintliian columns, advanced 
from the sides of the room, forming a nave and aisles ; the 
latter are filled with book-cases, set laterally from the 
pillars to the wall, against which are cases also set, and 
over them nins a gallery with cases to the ceiling against 

198 



THE ATHEN.EUM 



the wall. The cornice is enriched with medallions and 
ornaments, the ceiling being in panel. Between the news- 
paper room and the library is the little chess room, now 
unused, and standing in the doorway which opens into the 
library one has a charming view of the handsome room and, 
through its long windows at the farther end, of the great 
wistaria vine with its clusters of lovely flowers. 

To enjoy the privileges of the Athenseum one must 
own a share of stock and be passed upon by the Board of 
Directors. As the stock is closely held and passed on from 
generation to generation in approved Philadelphia fashion 
it will be seen that membership is largely hereditary. 'Not 
long ago some of the members proposed a move uptown, 
but the Athenaeum stayed in the old place. 

The main characteristic of the Athenaeum's existence 
has been the collection of periodical literature, which is said 
to be unsurpassed either at home or abroad. There are, 
however, solid books of the day being bought and monthly 
bulletins to tell the members about them. 



THE OLD SCHOOLS 




^ ARULY had the Quakers established 
shelter for their families before they 
bethought themselves of schooling for 
their children. At a meeting of the 
Council held in Philadelphia tenth 
month, 26th, 1683, they " Sent for 
Enock flower, an Inhabitant of said 
Towne, who for twenty years past hath been exercised in 
that care and Imploymt in England, to whom having Com- 
municated their JNIinds, he Embraced it upon the following 
Termes: to Learn to read English 4 s. by the Quarter, to 
Learn to read and write 6 s. by ye Quarter, to learn to read. 
Write and Cast accts. 8 s. by ye Quarter; for Boarding a 
Schollar, that is to say, dyet. Washing, Lodging and 
Schooling, Tenn pounds for one whole year." By the 
year 1696 Gabriel Thomas says there were several schools. 
In 1689 Penn took definite steps toward founding the first 
public school in his instructions to Thomas Lloyd and in 
1701 incorporated the ^Monthly Meeting's Committee hav- 
ing charge of it. This grammar school was put in charge 
of George Keith, a well-known Scotch Quaker and 
preacher who afterwards caused a schism in the Society of 
Friends and finally returned to the Church of England. 
Keith's assistant was Benjamin ^lakin, who later became 
the principal. The incorporators of this school, which has 
become the William Penn Charter School of our day, were 
Samuel Carpenter, Anthony ^lorris, Edward Shippen, 
James Fox, David Lloyd, William Southby and John 
Jones. The school was kept on Fourth Street south of 
Chestnut and numbered among its teachers besides Keith 
and Makin such men as David James Dove, Robert Proud 
the historian, William Wanney, Jeremiah Todd and 

200 



THE OLD SCHOOLS 



Charles Thompson, the Secretary of the Continental Con- 
gress. During the incumbency of Thomas Makin the 
Assembly met in the school room, much to the principal's 
discomfiture. 

In 1745 a school-house of two stories with its end toward 
Fourth Street was erected. Here was deposited the col- 
lection of books left to the Meeting by Thomas Chalkley 
and here was erected the observatory with the astronomical 
clock by which the State House Clock was regulated. In 
1763 a meeting house was built on the lot at where the 
Forrest Building now stands and it remained until 1859. 
Jonah Thompson, one of the teachers in the school, was a 
man of military aspect. He was accustomed to walk at the 
head of his corps of scholars to week-day meetings in a 
long line of " two and two." Upon these occasions the 
town was astonished to see them marching with wooden 
guns and a little flag which the boys had taken up from 
their hiding place as they left the school building. The 
dignified disciplinarian at their head would not deign to 
look behind him and so the stately procession moved 
through the street. Robert Proud was also the victim of 
the pranks of these Quaker youths who seem to have had 
the same feelings as other boys. He wore a large bush wig 
which his scholars hooked from his head by means of a 
string and bent pin let down from a hole in the ceiling. 
Some of those who became the gravest Friends in after 
life were known to have hoisted a wagon, in pieces, to the 
chimney top by night and there put it together to divert the 
populace on the morrow. 

The first Charter of 1701 was supplemented by a second 
in 1708 and by yet a third in 1711, under which the Board 
of Overseers now acts. Under this instrument there was 
a board consisting of Samuel Carpenter, Edward Shippen, 

201 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Griffith Owen, Thomas Story, Anthony Morris, Richard 
Hill, Isaac ^lorris, Samuel Preston, Jonathan Dickinson, 
Nathan Stanbury, Thomas JSIasters, Nicholas Wain, Caleb 
Pusey, Rowland Ellis and James Logan. There were a 
number of " Corporation Schools " as they were called, 
acting under Penn's Charter, and scattered about the City. 
About 187-4 these were gathered together and the sale of 
their property made the consolidated school at Twelfth 
near JNIarket Streets, which we know as the William Penn 
Charter School. The rigid discipline of Friends was com- 
municated to their school first by means of the birch and 
then by a no less robust, though better directed application 
which has made the school noted for its thoroughness and 
has sent out into the world scores of well-trained men. 
Much of its sustained reputation is due to the able adminis- 
tration of Charles Roberts and Richard Mott Jones. 

The Academy of the Protestant Episcopal Church was 
organized in 1785 as the result of a subscription and plan 
instituted by a committee of the vestry of Christ Church 
and St. Peter's. The Rev. John Andrews was chosen 
principal and opened the school in a house on the east side 
of Fourth Street below High. It was removed in 1788 
to a large building erected for it on Chestnut west of 
Seventh Street. This proved too much of a burden and 
was sold in 1791. The school was tlien kept at Third and 
Pear Streets and afterwards in Locust Street above Ninth 
and wliere it languished until 1845, when Bishop Alonzo 
Potter revived it and Rev. George Emlen Hare became 
head-master. In 1849 its present location in Locust below 
Broad Street was occupied and here many illustrious citi- 
zens of Philadelphia have received their education under 
capable masters. 

Although not within the old City the Germantown 

802 




THE EPISCOPAL ACADEMY 

Chestnut, west of Seventh Street, 1788-1791 




GERMANTOWN ACADEMY (BUILT 1760) AT GREENE STREET 
AND SCHOOL HOUSE LANE, 1917 



THE OLD SCHOOLS 



Academy deserves mention because of the importance of 
the movement which resulted in its foundation, the distinc- 
tion of some of its masters and the fact that it is the oldest 
school in this country which has had a continuous existence 
in the same building. It was born of that alliance between 
the Germans and Friends which resulted in maintaining 
the Quaker ascendency in the Assembly for so long a time, 
and as a rival to the Academy and College of Philadelphia 
which was the stronghold of the opposing Episcopal party. 
It was founded on the 6th of December, 1759, at the house 
of Daniel Mackinett, then the Green Tree Tavern, and 
now Number 6019 Main Street. The founders were resi- 
dents of Germantown with the exception of Joseph Gallo- 
way, the distinguished lawyer, who drew up the plan. 
The site chosen was what is now Greene and School House 
Lane and the present building was erected in 1760. It 
was called the Union School and the first master was 
Hilarius Becker who presided over the German School. 
The English master was David James Dove, who has been 
more fully mentioned in his connection with the College. 
He offended the Trustees as he had done at the College 
and in 1763 Pelatiah Webster took charge of the school. 
Webster was a genius and a philosopher so that the 
Trustees exchanged one peculiar character for another. 
Both men were remarkable and deserve a more promi- 
nent place in history than has been accorded them. 
Webster was a graduate of Yale College and had been a 
minister in New England before coming to Germantown. 
After retiring from the Union School in 1766 he opened 
a general store at Front and Arch Streets and later re- 
moved to High Street, where he dealt in Balm of Gilead, 
looking glasses, tanner's oil and pickled lobsters. During 
the early days of the struggle for Independence his house 

203 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



was the almost nightly meeting-place of delegates to the 
Continental Congress. He was a staunch patriot and the 
British officers imprisoned him in Walnut Street jail dur- 
ing their occupancy of the City in 1777-78. After the 
war he became the author of many prophetic pamphlets, 
chief among which was " A Dissertation on the Political 
Union of the Thirteen States of North America," pub- 
lished February 16, 1783. This remarkable document 
pointed out the weaknesses of the Confederation and tlie 
necessity of a Constitution providing for a bicameral sys- 
tem or a Congress composed of two chambers " with the 
concurrence of both necessary to every act." He showed 
plainly the necessity for a taxing power, and provided 
for all the branches of Government subsequently' provided 
by the Constitution of 1787 and even some of the early 
amendments to that document. It has lately been dis- 
covered that it was upon Webster's little " Dissertation " 
that the framers of the Constitution worked and that he 
may justly be called the inventor of our form of govern- 
ment. 

During the British occupation the right of the camp 
of the Third Brigade rested at the school house and its 
officers played a game of cricket on the grounds. The 
Plessians pierced the ball on the spire with their bullets, 
as present daj'^ evidence shows, and tlie building was filled 
with wounded after the battle of Germantown. The crown 
of King George on the old spire as well as the ball, still 
stands. 

During the yellow fever outbreak of the summer of 
1793 Germantown was singularly free from the disease and 
in consequence enjoyed a reputation as a health resort. Tlie 
Trustees of the Academy were accordingly petitioned for 
the use of the school l)uilding by the Congress of the L^nited 

204 



THE OLD SCHOOLS 



States and the Assembly of the State. Upon consideration 
it was agreed that they should oiFer the school buildings 
to the President of the United States upon a rental of 
Three Hundred Dollars with an allowance of $60 for 
certain necessary repairs. Henry Hill, president, Samuel 
Ashmead, Christian Sclinider, Samuel Mechlin and Joseph 
Ferree were appointed a committee of the board to wait 
upon the President and acquaint him with the decision. 

President Washington was at this time living in the 
large house next to the school which Dove, the first English 
master, had erected, and on the 6th of November he re- 
ceived the committee of trustees there and listened to the 
address which Mr. Hill read to him as follows : 

" The President of the United States 
November 6, 1793. 
Sir, 

The trustees of the Public School of Germantown have the 
honour to wait upon the President with a respectful tender of the 
school buildings for the accommodation of Congress, should they 
convene at this place. 

To Judge of the other Inhabitants of Germantown from our 
own motives it cannot be questioned they would on this occasion 
strive to make it as convenient a residence as possible. On the 
permanence of our General Government and the safety of its sup- 
porters and defenders rests, under God, in our view, whatever we 
hold most valuable. 

It has been our fortune. Sir, to see you in many seasons of 
difficulty and danger, always surmounting them; and even now 
fortifying with your presence the good spirit of the Union lately 
humbled by the calamity in Philadelphia ; are alleviation of which 
we participate, doubtless in common with the survivors of the City, 
in consequence of your propitious return to this State." 

To this dignified and briefly sufficient proffer the Presi- 
dent addressed the following reply, the first two para- 
graphs written by Jefferson and the last in courteous 

205 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



acknowledgment of the personal note, added by Wasliing- 
ton himself: 

" To the Trustees of the Pubhc School of Germantown. 
Gentlemen : 

The readiness with which the Trustees of the Public School 
of Germantown tender the buildings under their charge for the use 
of the Congress, is a proof of their zeal for furthering the public 
good ; and doubtless the Inhabitants of Germantown generally, 
actuated by the same motives, will feel the same disposition to 
accommodate, if necessary, those who assemble but for their service 
and that of their fellow citizens. 

Where it will be best for Congress to remain will depend on 
circumstances which are daily unfolding themselves and for the 
issue of which we can but offer our pra^'ers to the Sovereign 
Dispenser of life and health. His favour too on our endeavours — 
the good sense and firmness of our fellow citizens, and fidelity 
in those they employ, will secure to us a permanence of good 
government. 

If I have been fortunate enough during the vicissitudes of my 
life, so to have conducted m^'self, as to have merited your approba- 
tion, it is the source of much pleasure ; and should my future con- 
duct merit a continuance of your good opinion, especially at a time 
when our country, and the City of Philadelphia in particular, is 
visited by so severe a calamity', it will add more than a little to my 
happiness. . . . 

Go : Washington." 

But the fever abated and the necessity for the assem- 
bling of Congress in Germantown passed. The house next 
door in which Washington stayed is owned by the Academy 
and occupied by the head master. Washington's adopted 
son, George Washington Parke Custis, was entered as a 
pupil, and every student of the present school hears the tra- 
dition of the President's calling for the lad at the close 
of the day's session. 

When the fever broke out again in 1798 the school 

206 



THE OLD SCHOOLS 



house was occupied by the Banks of Pennsylvania and 
North America, as well as the Insurance Company of 
North America. Incorporated as the Public School of 
Germantown the use of the word " Academy " soon crept 
into usage. Colonel Isaac Franks, whose house on the 
Market Square in Germantown, now known as the Morris 
house, was occupied by Washington, was the first to use 
the word in the minutes of the Trustees, which he wrote 
in 1796. 

Dm-ing the important period during which Walter 
Rogers Johnson was head master the Marquis de Lafayette 
visited the school. This was on July 20, 1825, and the 
scene was a dramatic one, particularly when the distin- 
guished visitor was introduced to Fernando Bolivar, the 
nephew and adopted son of Simon Bolivar, " Liberator of 
South America," who was one of the pupils. 

The family names connected with this old school are 
distinguished and continuous. Wister and Johnson are 
of course among them and the well-known historian, John 
F. Watson, was treasurer for many years. To the present 
generation no name is, however, so synonymous with Ger- 
mantown Academy as that of Dr. William Kershaw whose 
service dates from 1877. The group of buildings in their 
setting of fine old trees above the street present the digni- 
fied and substantial appearance of our best Colonial tra- 
dition. 

Before the days of the public school there were of 
course many children whose parents or friends were unable 
to give them an education. The need to provide for this 
situation was suggested to a group of young men in the 
winter of 1799 by William Nekervis, one of their number, 
who explained his tardy appearance at one of their stated 
meetings for social intercourse by describing the effort 

207 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



which he had witnessed of some young women to gratuit- 
ously teach poor girls. He added that the undertaking 
had greatly interested him and he could not help thinking 
that he and his friends could employ their leisure with 
more credit hy teaching poor boys than to spend it in 
merely social intercourse at a public house. The idea was 
approved, a society formed and a plan of operations 
adopted by the little band of apprentices, clerks and young 
men commencing business, under the name of " The Phila- 
delphia Society for the Free Instruction of Indigent Boys." 
These nine youths opened a night school in w^hich the 
teachers alternated in the weekly classes and instructed 
between twenty and thirty scholars in the ordinary branches 
of English education. The place chosen was a room in 
the rear of the Second Presbyterian Church, at the north- 
west corner of Third and Arch Streets, from which it 
was removed to the new school house built by the Society 
in Walnut Street above Sixth. They contributed $16.37 
the first year and their expenditures were $9.27, so that 
they may be said to have managed the affair with unusual 
business acumen. 

In June, 1801, a day school was opened in response 
to an urgent call for more extensive operations. The title 
was now changed to " The Philadelphia Society for the 
Establishment and Support of Charity Schools," and in- 
corporation considered. Action on this account was 
hastened by the bequest of $8000 by Christopher Ludwick 
for the purpose of teaching, gratis, poor children in the 
City and Liberties of Philadelphia. The University at once 
joined with the Society" in competition for this fund and so 
an exciting contest was begun. The right to the legacy 
depended upon the priority of incorporation according to 
its terms, and to complete an act of incorporation at that 

208 



THE OLD SCHOOLS 



time it was required that the instrument should be trans- 
mitted to Lancaster, and recorded in the Rolls Office. 
Thomas McKean, the Chief Magistrate, delivered the two 
deeds to the agents of the rival candidates at the same 
moment and in addition to his role of strict and just im- 
partiality seems to have had a keen sporting interest in the 
outcome. Great excitement prevailed on the part of the 
public whose attention had been called to the prospective 
race. The express of the University upon the back of a 
fast trotting horse started first. The President of the 
Society, Mr. Eves, followed in a light sulky. After a hard 
ride Eves overtook the horseman and they travelled side 
by side for fourteen miles. One cannot help wondering 
what their conversation, if any, must have been during 
those contentious moments. At the Spread Eagle Tavern 
Eves passed and lost his rival whose horse gave out. Eves' 
horse at length followed suit but he hired another from a 
plough and proceeded. Four miles further on and he pur- 
chased a third horse. He was determined to win ! Anxious 
crowds awaited the contestants at various points on the 
road with shouts of "there he comes, there he comes!" 
Eves covered the sixty-six miles in seven hours, presented 
his charter for enrollment and won the race on the seventh 
day of September, " at ten minutes after eight o'clock in 
the evening." 

The Society's building fund was augmented by the 
appeal of Dr. Benjamin Rush which realized $2800 at 
once. Thomas Walter was appointed teacher and the 
school continued to flourish in its new building by day and 
by night. Soon a hbrary was added and legacies began 
to come to it so that soon two more schools were opened. 
At the opening of the nineteenth century the Society's 
School was the only one for the free instruction of pupils 

14 209 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



regardless of their birthplace or religion and it was there- 
fore the forerunner of our public schools established in 
1818 through a law drafted in their school room. 

In 1859 the school was removed from Sixth and Walnut 
Streets to the Paul Beck School House, Catharine Street 
above Sixth. In 1872 the name of the Society was changed 
to the Ludwick Institute, in recognition of the early bene- 
factor for whose bequest the famous race was run. Thus 
is continued to-day a still useful organization founded 
by Joseph Bennett Eves, Joseph Briggs, Benjamin 
Williams, William Xekervis, John Stockton, Hartt 
Grandon, Thomas Potts, Jr., Phillip Garrett and Thomas 
Bradford, Jr. 



FOX HUNTING 




p LL Englishmen love a good horse, and 
while racing was enjoyed in Phila- 
delphia by gentlemen from the ear- 
liest time the more exclusive set 
found its chief interest in fox hunting. 
A man named Butler kept the kennel 
of hounds on the brow of the hill north 
of Callowhill Street, descending to Pegg's run, now Willow 
Street, and at about sixty feet westward of Second Street. 
The increase of the population decreased the number of 
foxes thereabouts, so that finally the company had to move 
over to Gloucester and hunt in the Jersey pines. They 
provided for their old huntsman, Butler, in 1756, by setting 
him up with the first public stage to New York. 

Amusement was rather restricted in those primitive 
days in the new country and while the City Friend could 
provide entertainment with a delightful repast, the hos- 
pitable gentleman of the country promised good sport with 
horses, dogs or fox. The first organization of these lovers 
of exhilarating out-of-door sport was formed at the London 
Coffee House, at Front and High Streets, in 1766. The 
associators were Benjamin Chew, John Dickinson, Thomas 
Lawrence, Moor Furman, Enoch Story, Charles Willing, 
Levi HoUings worth, James Wharton, Thomas Mifflin, 
William Parr, Israel Morris, Jr., Tench Francis, David 
Rhea, Robert Morris, John White, John Cadwalader, 
Samuel Morris, Jr., Anthony Morris, Jr., Turbot Francis, 
Zebulon Rudolph, Richard Bache, Isaac Wikoff, Joseph 
Wood, David Potts, Samuel Nicholas, Andrew Hamilton 
and David Beveridge. A negro named Natt, owned by the 
Morris family, became the master of the kennels and had 
a long and honourable service. Indeed, bandy-legged "Old 

211 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Natty " became a famous character knowTi to every urchin 
of town or country. The hunting uniform was a dark 
brown cloth coatee, with lapelled dragoon pockets, white 
buttons, and frock sleeves, buff waistcoat and breeches, 
and a black velvet cap. The pack in 1774 consisted of 
about sixteen couple of fleet hounds. ^Membership in the 
club grew rapidly until the war of Independence sus- 
pended all affairs of the chase until 1780. A meeting 
at the Coffee House in October of that year disclosed a 
debt to Mr. Morris of £3553, which was paid by nineteen 
members. The rendezvous for hunting was at William 
Hugg's inn, Gloucester Point Ferry, New Jersey, or at 
the kennel on the banks of the Delaware River nearby, 
where in 1778 there was a pack of twenty-two excellent 
dogs and ten six-months-old pups. 

After the war Samuel Morris, Jr., Governor of the 
Schuylkill Fishing Company, was chosen president and 
served until he died in 1812. In 1800 there were about 
forty members and the club flourished until 1818, when 
Captain Charles Ross, the last master-spirit, died. Presi- 
dent Wharton, former ]Mayor of Philadelphia, and his few 
remaining disheartened associates resolved upon the disso- 
lution of the organization, the pack was dispersed, and the 
services of old Jonas Cattell, the guide and whipper-in, 
and Cupid the negro huntsman, were dispensed with. 

The hunts took place principally at Cooper's Creek, 
about four miles from the city, at the Horseheads, seven 
miles, at Chew's landing, nine miles, at Blackwood Town, 
twelve miles, at Heston's Glass Works, twenty miles dis- 
tant, and sometimes at Thompson's Point on the Delaware, 
many miles to the south. They usually lasted from one to 
six hours and sometimes longer. In 1708 a fox carried 
the pack in full cry to Salem, forty miles distant. 

Captain Samuel ISIorris, who was the guiding spirit of 

212 




THE CHESTER VALLEY PACK ARRIVING AT THE KING OF PRUSSIA INN 
NEAR RADNOR 




illL: RADNOR AND KIRK HOtfNDS ON THE WHITE HORSE PIKE 



FOX HUNTING 



the fox hunters for so many years and for forty years 
Governor of the " Colony in Schuylkill," was a man of 
engaging amiability and a beloved citizen. He was an 
excellent horseman, a keen sportsman and typical of the 
Philadelphia gentleman who has always clung tenaciously 
to the manners and customs of the mother country. The 
First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, in which Samuel 
Morris was first a lieutenant and afterwards the captain, 
was originated in and chiefly composed of the fox-hunting 
gentlemen of the Gloucester Club and the members of the 
old Schuylkill Fishing Company. At some time prior to 
1797 the members of the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club 
presented Captain Morris with the celebrated Tally-Ho 
punch bowl of china, on one side of which a huntsman is 
shown taking a fence while on the other side his long- 
necked barb is jumping a ditch. The bowl is carefully 
cherished in the old house on South Eighth Street, pur- 
chased by his son, Luke Wistar Morris in 1817, and now 
owned by Effingham B. Morris. 

The fox-hunting of the Philadelphia gentlemen was not 
confined to the Jerseys, for there is record of hunts held 
in both Chester and Delaware Counties. Jacob Hiltz- 
heimer makes note in his diary of fox hunts which occurred 
with considerable frequency at Darby, Tinicum, and one 
on December 12, 1767, at Centre Woods, where City Hall 
now stands, where a fox was dropped and " aiForded an 
agreeable ride after the hounds till dark. The fox ran up a 
tree on the Schuylkill side, and when Levi Hollingsworth 
climbed up after him, it jumped down and was killed." 
On December 27, 1765, he tells us that he set off in the: 

" Morning at five o'clock, with Thomas Mifflin, Sam 
Miles, Jacob Hollingsworth and Young Rudolph from 
my house ; proceeded to Darby to meet the other gentlemen 
hunters ; from there to Captain Coultas's house, and to the 

213 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



woods. About thirty-five gentlemen attended with thirty 
dogs but no fox was secured." 

Captain Coultas was of Whitby Hall, situated at what 
is now Fifty-eighth Street and Florence Avenue, and 
hunted also with the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club. He 
came over prior to 1732, was of engaging manners and a 
charter member of the " Colony in Schuylkill." He got 
his military title from the associators in 1748, who formed 
a battery for the defense of Philadelphia from fear of 
French and Indian invasion. He was also Sheriff and 
Judge of the County Courts. 

The Black Horse and Anvil taverns in Delaware 
county were starting points for many a hunt in olden 
times when Charley Pennell, Nicholas and Joseph Fair- 
lamb, Squire Baldwin and Anthony Baker were noted 
hunters. Most of the farmers hunted in those days, as 
indeed many of them do now, and while the dogs and 
horses were not always of the best, the sport was fine and 
the meets times to be remembered. Jesse Russell, living 
in Edgemont township, made a dying request that he be 
buried on a wooded round top called Hunting Hill where 
he could hear the hounds running. Farmers in those days, 
old and young, hearing the hounds running in their neigh- 
bourhood, would leave work, rush to the barn, saddle and 
bridle a horse, and join in the chase. These farm horses 
were of course not schooled to take the fences with their 
owners up, but when the hunt came to a fence the rider 
dismounted and called to his horse from the other side to 
come to him, whereupon the animal would make the jump 
with an empty saddle. To jump one's horse without leav- 
ing the saddle like this was considered a piece of showing 
off to be frowned upon. When the gentlemen riders 
from the City, some of whom had hunted in England, be- 
came more numerous with their red coats, it got to be the 

214 



FOX HUNTING 



usual thing to ride straight and take the fences, although, 
of course, all the farmer's horses were not up to it. The 
American hounds were able to go into a wood, find the 
fox and bring him out, but the English hounds required the 
direction of the huntsman. 

It was a free, democratic bit of real sport. They 
hunted with trench fed packs, each farmer keeping a few 
hounds of his own, and on hunting days they would meet 
at an appointed place and run all the hounds together. The 
first hounds were brought from France and England and 
bred to a little bit of everything, including bloodhounds, 
which accounts for the long ears and wrinkled foreheads 
of some of the American types of to-day. Some of the best 
hunts of the early days were on moonlit nights and the 
hunters would sit around a fire on a hill-top listening to 
the music of the hounds, spinning yarns and warming the 
inner man with some good country brew. This indeed was 
the origin of the popular Radnor Hunt Club of to-day 
which boasts of often turning out a field of a hundred riders 
of a Saturday. 

This district about Philadelphia is by far the best fox- 
hunting country in America and foxes are as plentiful now 
as they were in the olden times. Bayard Taylor well de- 
scribes one of the old time hunts in his " Story of Ken- 
nett." With the sport so popular in Delaware and Chester 
Counties it was inevitable that a club should be formed and 
so the famous Rose Tree Club was organized at the old 
Rose Tree Inn in 1859 with J. Howard Lewis, President; 
George E. Darlington, Secretary, and J. Morgan Baker, 
Treasurer. As well as being the oldest, this club is the 
most active of the fox-hunting clubs of to-day about Phila- 
delphia. Its history is full of affectionate anecdotes of per- 
sons, places and hounds, much of it centred about the old 
inn whose name the club bears. Races were added to 

215 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



the hunting about forty years ago with a steeplechase 
course. The farmers in great numbers mingled with the 
gentlemen riders, coaches and handsome turnouts. Per- 
haps the family names found most often among this cele- 
brated company at the Rose Tree were those of Lewis 
and Rogers. Fairman Rogers was a famous horseman, a 
Captain of the First Troop and a Professor in the Uni- 
versity. Another widely known hunter was Alexander J. 
Cassatt, who l)ecame President of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road. Along with these prominent men in the fellowship 
of the hunt went the farmers who had milked their dozen 
or more cows before mounting their sturdy animals for a 
run with the hounds. 

Not so many years ago a prominent Philadelphian, then 
a lad, rode out to the Whitemarsh Valley on one of his 
father's coach horses to see a fox hunt. In the excitement 
of the moment he urged his horse forward and much to 
his surprise found himself well up in the field. Only re- 
cently while spending a year in England to enjoy the sport 
he was made ^Master of Fox Hounds of the Cottesmore 
Hunt, one of the mother country's most famous clubs. 
Gentlemen of the City and of Germantown were numerous 
and keen at most of the hunt clubs. Fearless riders a 
plenty were in every field, taking all sorts of risks and 
hazards. One hunter tells of his being precipitated into 
a brook in the morning, continuing the chase and getting 
a worse ducking during the run when he actually had to 
swim to get out. The records of fox-hunting are filled 
with the names of famous horses and hounds mentioned 
no less affectionately than those of their owners. Nor is 
the cunning of the fox neglected in the old traditions and 
all go to make it " the sport of kings, the image of war 
without its guilt, and only five and twenty per cent, of its 
danger." 



THE PHILADELPHIA SKATING CLUB 
AND HUMANE SOCIETY 




W^W/C^^^"^ ^^ quite certain that skating early 
^ mdiim^^^Wi became a sport in which Philadelphians 
were noted. Graydon says in his 
" Memoirs " that " though Philadel- 
phians have never reduced skating to 
rules like Londoners, nor connected it 
with their business like Dutchmen, I 
will yet hazard the opinion that they are the best and most 
elegant skaters in the world ;" and he had seen " New Eng- 
land Skaters, Old England Skaters, and Holland Skaters." 
Dunlap in his History of Art, says that Benjamin West, 
the painter, was a skilful skater and speaking of his 
distinction on this account in London says, " 'Not was 
the considerate Quaker insensible to the value of such com- 
mendation. He continued to frequent the Serpentine 
and to gratify large crowds by cutting the Philadelphia 
Salute." 

The Delaware River and the numerous ponds near it 
were the places where the early Philadelphians learned to 
skate. Many of these ponds have already been mentioned. 
There was one at what is now Eighth and Arch Streets, 
one on the south side of Arch near Seventh Street and one 
on the north side of Race extending to Branch Street. 
Hudson's Pond at the northwest corner of Fifth and High 
Streets was the favourite haunt of such celebrated skaters 
as Colonel INIorris, Thomas Bradford, and Alexander 
Fullerton. Other noted skaters were William Thorpe, 
Doctor Foulke, Governor ^lifflin, Charles Wilson Peale, 
George Heyl and a negro named Joe Claypoole. George 
Heyl was the most conspicuous for he dressed in a red coat 
and buckskin tights and was particularly graceful and 

217 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



clever at figure skating. Doctor Foulke, the famous sur- 
geon, was an adept at the " High Dutch " and in cutting 
his name. Peale introduced the idea of carrying the runner 
above the foot and then back. Graydon names General 
Cadwalader and Charles ^Massey the biscuit maker, as the 
best skaters of their time. 

The Great Blue House Pond at Ninth and South 
Streets near the tavern of that name, was chiefly used by 
citizens of Southwark. The Delaware River was, however, 
the chief skating place and the ice would often become 
two feet thick and even more. The skaters and walkers 
formed a big crowd and a great number of booths were 
erected for the sale of refreshments. Often, indeed, 
there was an ox-roast over a fire upon sand which was 
sprinkled on the ice. Horses were specially shod 
for racing sleighs and the course sometimes extended 
to Burlington and beyond. The whole scene presents 
a lively picture for the imagination of healthy, vigorous 
out-door sport. 

Subsequently the Schuylkill River was sought by the 
enthusiast, a long distance to travel without the aid of any 
public conveyance. When the omnibus lines and later the 
horse cars began running to Fair-]SIount, thousands would 
go out and the names most mentioned were Parrish, Zole- 
kofFer, Kvans, Paul, Snyder, Peale and Page. 

On December 21, 1849, a number of enthusiasts held 
a meeting to form a Skaters' Club at Stigman's Hotel, 
on George, now Sansom Street, above Sixth. Colonel 
James Page was called to the chair and William H. Jones 
was appointed Secretary. A week later an adjourned 
meeting convened and the club took shape by the appoint- 
ment of Edward S. T.awrence, Albert R. Schofield, Wil- 
liam F. Van Hook, Josiah Kvans, and the Chairman to 

218 



SKATING CLUB AND HUMANE SOCIETY 

draft a constitution. E. W. Bushnell was appointed 
Treasurer. On January 2, 1850, Josiah Evans was chosen 
Chairman and Wilham H. Jones, Secretaiy, and a com- 
mittee appointed to select a pattern for reels with lines 
sixty feet long. Two days later, still at Stigman's, the 
Constitution was reported and unanimously adopted. So 
far the only ice these sportsmen had tried was that supplied 
by the well patronized bar at Stigman's and the only reels 
from the apple-jack obtained at the same place. On Janu- 
ary 8, 1850, James Page was chosen the first President, 
josiah Evans, Vice-President; James SuUender, Treas- 
urer; William H. Jones, Secretary, and Edward D. Yates, 
Corresponding Secretary. The badge adopted was a small 
silver skate to be worn on the left breast. The life-saving 
apparatus consisted of a reel and cord, safety ladders and 
small boats on runners. In case of accident, two or three 
members only went to the rescue, while the others kept 
back the crowd. E. W. Bushnell introduced the first 
steel skates at $30 a pair. The club was of great service 
in breaking up gangs of toughs who molested skaters and 
stole their skates, so making it safe for anyone to venture 
on the ice by day or night. 

The life saving record of the club soon eclipsed the 
work of the old Philadelphia Humane Society, whose 
activity had been gradually waning. This Society was 
established in 1780 and, like nearly all the useful early 
organizations of the City, was composed of the best citizens. 
It aimed to rescue " those whose animation may be sus- 
pended by drowning, breathing air contaminated by burn- 
ing charcoal, hanging, exposure to choke-damp of wells, 
drinking cold water while warm in summer, strokes of the 
sun, lightning, swallowing laudanum, etc." The signs of 
the Humane Society were familiar to the old City up to 

219 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



1850. They were placed near ferries, j^rominent taverns 
and places of resort and gave notice that the apparatus of 
the Humane Society was stored on the premises. It con- 
sisted of drays, hooks, nets, together with medicines and 
other appliances for the resuscitation of persons taken 
from the water, when animation was suspended. In 
summer startling hand-bills were posted on the pumps so 
popular in various parts of the City, cautioning people 
against drinking cold water when the body was heated. 
Xowadaj's our hardened and fastidious citizens may be 
expected to protest loudly if their drinking water is 
not iced in summer. The Society offered prizes for 
dissertations on the best methods of rescuing persons 
whose animation was suspended, and medals for acts 
of heroism. Dr. Benjamin Saj'^ and Joseph Cruikshank, 
two prominent Quakers, were early presidents of the 
Humane Society. It seems to have died a natural 
death and its funds were presented to the Pennsylvania 
Hospital. 

The work in a modified form being continued by the 
skaters they incorporated the name in the charter granted 
to them in 1861. The growing club met at many places in 
town and as early as 1855 the erection of a permanent 
home on the Schuylkill River was agitated. The ladders 
and life-saving apparatus of the club were stored at 
Fricka's Hotel on Coates Street, now Fairmount Avenue, 
and were taken on the ice in the morning and every night 
carried back by the " boat-hook-and-ladder-brigade " of 
members. Edward Yates stuck to the hope of a house and 
one day in December, 1859, invited Harv^ey, Sullender 
and Bushnell to skate with him on the Wissahickon Creek. 
After a good dinner at a neighbouring inn he produced his 
plan to which all agreed. Permission from Councils to 

220 



SKATING CLUB AND HUMANE SOCIETY 

build, raising the money and erecting the building were 
all completed with much labour and the house finished in 
the spring of 1861. Here in " boat house row " near the 
dam, the hospitable Skaters' Club still continues its organi- 
zation and although the skating season seems much cur- 
tailed and the Park Guard has supplanted their humane 
work, the members still manifest a lively interest in the 
manly art and seek to emulate the record of their past. 



CRICKET 




iRICKET is perhaps the oldest and 
the slowest of games and it may be 
acknowledged at once to the eager 
metropolitan that it is a Philadelphia 
importation. First recorded in Eng- 
land in the year 1300, cricket has con- 
tinued to be the one sport played by 
gentlemen for fun and exercise. Other games create more 
enthusiasm but there is no other for which its devotees hold 
so much affection. It is planned for the participant rather 
than the spectator and the length of time taken to finish 
a game is founded upon the idea that it is pleasant to pro- 
long an intermingling with one's friends in a game for 
fun which may be played by those of all ages and so add 
vastly to the joy and health of life for all. When youths 
are accustomed to play their games with grown men, it 
introduces an element of sobriety, courtesy and reticence 
into their play and behaviour, and games assume their 
proper value. The character and nationality of the game 
of cricket appealed to the Quaker habits of Philadelphians 
and though we have no records of games in Colonial days, 
or indeed until well into the nineteenth.century, we may rest 
assured that the English settlers pitched many a cricket 
crease in the old town. 

The first game of cricket in America, according to tra- 
dition, was played on the grounds of the Germantown 
Academy by British officers quartered nearby in 1777. 
The first real attempt to make cricket an American game 
was made at Haverford College about the year 1836. The 
gardener, William Carvill, was an Englishman and an 
enthusiast for the game and induced the students to play. 

S2S 



CRICKET 



Nine matches are recorded for that time at the Quaker 
College. 

The English hosiery weavers in Germantown formed 
a club about 1842. They played in a field near Logan 
Station, on the Old York Road, and here William Rotch 
Wister began his cricket. Mr. Wister found a number 
of his fellow students at the University of Pennsylvania 
ready to form a club and so organized the Junior Cricket 
Club there. This was the first club of Americans formed 
in the United States and Mr. Wister was chosen its first 
President. He may be regarded as the father of American 
cricket and played actively and in many matches up to 
1861. He was the chairman of the meeting which formed 
the Philadelphia Cricket Club, in 1854, and became its first 
Vice-President. 

Though the total enrollment of the University was 
only 479 in 1843, yet the cricket club had a membership of 
forty, a coach, and a place to practise indoors during the 
winter months. This was at " Barrett's Gymnasium," in 
Chestnut Street about Sixth. Some of the original mem- 
bers were S. Weir Mitchell, John J. Boric, William S. 
Blight, George Harding, Hartman Kuhn, Jr., John Perot, 
Thomas Stewardson, Benjamin W. Richards, T. H. 
Bache and Frederick Klett. The first outside match was 
played with the Germantown Cricket Club at Mr. Coleman 
Fisher's place on Manheim Street, Germantown, in 1843, 
and from that time to this cricket has been played at the 
University. 

The first Inter-Collegiate game in any branch of sport 
in this country was played at Haverford College, May 7, 
1864, between a cricket eleven of the University of Penn- 
sylvania and one from Haverford College. It was won 

223 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



by Haverford, darkness coming on before the second 
inning was finished, and the game being therefore decided 
upon the result of the first inning. The umpires were: 
for Pennsylvania, Beauveau Borie, and for Haverford, 
Edward Starr. The score: 

First Inning of the University of Pennsylvania 

J. W. Hoffman, c. Garrett, b. Vail 

William F. Armstrong, c. & b. Wister 7 

Horace Magee, b. Vail 22 

W. George Oakman, b. Ashbridge 2 

Charles E. Morgan (Captain), b. Ashbridge 

Cadwaladcr Evans, run out 3 

S. Hays, b. Wistar 

Frederick W. Beasley, Jr., b. Wistar 3 

John Clark Sims, b. Ashbridge 4 

Jolm B. Morgan, c. Cooper, b. Vail 1 

Thomas Mitchell, not out 4 

Byes 5 

Wides 9 

Total 60 

Second Inning 

J. W. Hoffman, b. Wistar 1 

William F. Armstrong, b. Ashbridge 3 

Horace Magee, not out ^ 

W. George Oakman, not out 3 

Cadwalader Evans, run out 2 

Frederick W. Beasley, Jr., b. Ashbridge 9 

John B. Morgan, 1. b. w., b. Wistar 3 

Thomas Mitchell, b. Wistar 

Wides 1 

Total 27 

Hi 



CRICKET 

Haverford College 

Randolph Wood (Captain), b. Hoffman 20 

W, Ashbridge, run out 3 

A. Haviland, b. Oakman 

E. L. Scull, b. Oakman 

A. Garrett, b. C. E. Morgan 7 

M. Longstreth, b. C. E. Morgan 3 

C. C. Wistar, b. Evans 24 

B. A. Vail, c. Armstrong, b. Magee 2 

George Smith, 1. b. w., b. Evans 12 

A. C. Thomas, b. Evans 

H. M. Cooper, not out 5 

Extras 13 

Total 89 

This was an achievement of note, and Haverford and 
Pennsylvania have played cricket together ever since with 
nothing but cordiality and mutual respect between them. 
In 1881 they founded the Inter- Collegiate Cricket Asso- 
ciation which has had a continuous career to the present 
day, and a membership in which the two founders have 
always been active with Harvard, Princeton, Cornell and 
Trinity among the other members at various times. The 
Haverford and Pennsylvania elevens have carried Phila- 
delphia cricket to England, Ireland, Canada and Bermuda, 
sharing this honour with numerous sides composed of the 
gentlemen of Philadelphia and club elevens. 

The Germantown Club, relying upon the Wister fam- 
ily, was recruited from the eastern side of the village, 
with Duy's Lane as a rallying ground, while the " Yomig 
America," composed mostly of the younger brothers, off- 
set the Wister's with the Newhall family, which made of 
Manheim Street a rival cricket centre. 

After the war the older club opened grounds at " Nice- 
town " and the " Young America " located near by at 
" Stenton." In 1889 they joined their forces at " Man- 
is 225 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



heim," taking the older name of the Germantown Cricket 
Club and the blue and white colours of the younger. The 
old club of 1854 played in William Wister's pasture lot 
at " Belfield " and at his homestead off Duy's Lane, now 
Wister Street, Germantown. The Young America Club 
pitched their crease at Thomas A. Xewhall's back lawn 
at " Walnut Cottage " and his homestead between Man- 
heim and Hansberry Streets. From 1857 to 1879 they 
occupied the " Turnpike Bridge " gi'ound of the Logan 
estate bordering on the ]\Iain Street at the railroad, then 
until the consolidation in 1889 they played at " Stenton," 
between the Main Street and the old Logan Mansion. 
The Germantown Club continued at Duy's Lane, now 
Wister and Baynton Streets, until 1860, when General 
Meade " opened " the " Nicetown Grounds," between 
Pulaski Avenue and Township Line, near " Fern Hill," 
the home of Henry Pratt IMcKean, who owned the prop- 
erty. Here they remained until 1889, when the union at 
" Manheim " was effected. 

The iNIerion and Philadelphia Cricket Clubs are flour- 
ishing institutions and their grounds and equipment rival 
that of the Germantown Club at " INIanheim." ^lany 
international matches have been played on these grounds 
with sides from England, Ireland, Canada and Bermuda 
and Philadelphia has produced in George S. Patterson and 
J. B. King two cricketers who rank with the best of the 
mother country. 

Xo account of cricket in this country would be com- 
plete without mention of George ]M. Xewliall, who stands 
for all that the game means in skill and good sportsmanship. 
Mr. Newhall played for the L^nited States against England 
in 1860 and has been playing ever since, captaining the 
" Colts " against the gentlemen of Ireland as late as 1909. 
Is there any other game that can produce such an example? 



THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA 




^^^ HE Bank of North America is an 
"" ^ interesting institution from almost 
any angle of approach. Its title 
does not arise from that form of 
bmnptiousness so frequently de- 
scribed in the records of some 
foreign visitors of a certain period. 
When it was organized it was the bank of North America, 
since it was the first bank chartered on the continent. 
Unlike others, it was organized not for private gain but 
from a patriotic desire to sustain the feeble credit of Con- 
gress, and its first transactions are most intimately con- 
nected with the financial operations of the National Gov- 
ernment. By its aid troops were levied, arms and ammu- 
nition obtained, supplies furnished the patriot army and 
the expenses of the Government paid. The granting of 
its charter raised the question of what implied powers were 
vested in Congress, the annulment of its State franchises 
by the Assembly raised the question of the capacity of a 
legislative assembly to take such action, and its operations 
brought forth the important discussion as to the propriety 
of encouraging or prohibiting a system of banking in this 
country. The gentlemen connected with the bank were 
the most prominent financiers of Revolutionary days. 

The simplicity and economy with which both public 
and private business was conducted in Colonial days made 
a system of banking unnecessary. Merchants and men 
of means could generally furnish the loans required by 
the demands of the times. We have already seen how the 
markets and public buildings were so provided for and the 
part which lotteries played in early ventures. As early 
as 1763, however, the increased business of the port of 

227 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Philadelphia induced some of its principal merchants, 
Robert ^Morris among them, to seek the establisliment of a 
bank, and negotiations were entered into in Europe to 
effect this purpose. Undoubtedly the project would have 
become a reality then had not the breaking out of the 
struggle for independence intervened. This, of course, 
changed all the conditions of commerce and Congress 
evolved many schemes for the support of the cause. Paper 
money, lotteries and loans soon brought an exhausted 
credit. It was then that Alexander Hamilton advised the 
plan already proposed by Robert INIorris, but on a much 
vaster scale, so that it attracted little consideration. Mean- 
time the credit of Congress went from bad to worse and 
almost vanished. The army was in terrible distress. Under 
these circumstances a number of patriotic gentlemen in 
Philadelphia resolved to do something for the relief of the 
Government from their private fortunes and we must recall 
that splendid remark of Robert ]M orris : " The United 
States may command all that I have except my integrity." 
Associated with him in the undertaking were Blair 
McClenachan, Thomas Willing, John Nixon, James 
Wilson, George Clymer, William Bingham and a number 
of other national figures. A largely attended meeting 
was held in the Coffee House on June 8, 1780, and a sub- 
scription instantly set on foot. Within nine days there 
was paid in four hundred pounds in hard money and one 
hundred and one thousand three hundred and sixty pounds 
in Continental money. The loss of Charleston pressed for 
an immediate enlargement of the plan and a new one was 
accordingly adopted at a meeting in the City Tavern on 
June 17th. It was based on a subscription of £300,000 
Pennsylvania currency in real money, the subscribers to 
execute bonds to tlie amount of their subscriptions, and 

ii8 




FIRST HOME OF THE BANK OF NORTH 
AMERICA 




Birch, 1799 

THE CITY TAVERN AND BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA IN SOUTH SECOND STREET 



THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA 



the whole amount to form the capital of a bank. Within 
a few days the list was completed, embracing ninety-two 
subscribers pledging themselves for amounts from one to 
ten thousand pounds. 

An organization was at once effected under the name 
of the " Pennsylvania Bank " and Robert Morris, John 
M. Nesbitt, Blair McClenachan, Samuel Miles and Cad- 
walader Morris were elected Inspectors; Jolm Nixon and 
George Clymer, Directors; and Tench Francis, Factor. 
The directors were authorized to borrow money on the 
credit of the bank for six months or for less time, and 
to limit notes bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. 
They were to apply all money borrowed or received from 
Congress for the sole purpose of purchasing provisions 
and rum for the use of the Continental Army, to trans- 
portation, and to discharging the notes and expenses of 
the bank. When the whole amount laid out had been 
returned by Congress, the notes were to be paid off, the 
accounts settled, and the bank wound up. 

On June 21st Congress was officially advised of the 
organization of the institution and at once appointed a 
committee to confer with the subscribers. Its report was 
so satisfactory that the offer was accepted with a deep 
appreciation of the " distinguished proof of the patriotism 
of the subscribers." The faith of the United States was 
pledged, bills of exchange to the amount of £15,000 de- 
posited and more offered as it could be spared from other 
services. 

On July 27th the bank began business in Front Street 
two doors above Walnut Street, where it continued for 
nearly a year and a half, supplying three millions of rations 
and three hundred barrels of rum to the army. The last 
installment of the subscriptions was called November 15, 

229 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



1780, and the bank's affairs finally wound up towards 
the close of the year 1784. 

The year 1781 saw the lowest ebb of the country's 
credit and on February 20th Robert ]Morris was elected 
Superintendent of Finance. Wearied by the mistakes and 
delays of boards and committees, Congress at last tm-ned 
for relief to that energetic, reliable person whose experi- 
ence and business talents qualified him better than any man 
in America to direct its financial affairs. He spared 
neither labour, time nor thought in the work and no sacri- 
fice was too great for him to make for the service of his 
country. 

On the 17th of May, 1781, ^lorris presented to Con- 
gress his plan for the establishment of the Bank of North 
America. It contemplated a subscription of $400,000 in 
shares of $400 each, payable in gold or silver. On every 
week day evening the directors were to deliver to the 
Superintendent of Finance an accurate account of the 
day's business and he was to have the right at all times to 
examine into the bank's affairs. Congress referred the 
matter to Mr. Witherspoon of New Jersey, Mr. Sullivan 
of New Hampshire, Mr. Smith of Virginia and INIr. 
Clymer of Pennsylvania, who reported in favor of the 
plan. INIadison led the opposition but the plan was 
adopted, Massachusetts alone voting in the negative. 
Morris sought in vain to interest the citizens of other States 
than Pennsylvania. The gentlemen who had been most 
prominent in the Pennsylvania Bank became identified 
at once with the new institution, however, and with other 
Philadelphians paid in $70,000 by November. An oppor- 
tune remittance from France of $470,000 in specie enabled 
the National Treasury to lodge this considerable sum in 
the vaults of tlic bank, and an organization was resolved 

230 



THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA 



upon. On November 1, 1781, a meeting was convened at 
the City Tavern and the following board of directors 
chosen: Thomas Willing, Thomas Fitzimmons, John 
Maxwell Nesbitt, James Wilson, Henry Hill, Samuel 
Osgood, Cadwalader Morris, Andrew Caldwell, Samuel 
Ingles, Samuel Meredith, William Bingham and Timothy 
Matlack. The next day these chose Thomas WiUing, 
President, and Tench Francis, Cashier. Thomas WiUing 
was a partner of Robert Morris, fifty years old and a 
leading man in the State and Nation. He had been Judge 
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Mayor of Phila- 
delphia, Member of the Colonial Assembly and President 
of the Provincial Congress. He was privately and pub- 
licly beloved and had many of the qualities of Washington 
in influence and wisdom. 

On the 7th of January, 1782, the Bank began its opera- 
tions in a commodious store belonging to its cashier. 
Tench Francis, situated on the north side of Chestnut 
Street west of Third, where it still remains. The banking 
hours were from ten to one in the morning and from three 
to five in the afternoon. There were six employees and 
the accounts were kept in Mexican dollars. 

In spite of early difficulties on account of large de- 
mands to meet the necessities of the country and the depre- 
ciation of its notes, the bank forged ahead under Morris' 
skillful management and other States began to acknowl- 
edge its existence and accept its notes. It would be too 
long a story to recount here the services it rendered to 
State and Nation. Soon those who had lacked the courage 
of the original subscribers became anxious to participate 
in the bank's prosperity and new subscriptions were opened 
in 1784 to satisfy them, so that by June 13th the capital 
was found to amount to $830,000. This settled the fear 

231 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



of a rival institution, but a new contest was soon forced 
upon the directors in the paper money scheme. Those 
of us who have witnessed recent attacks upon the banking 
interests of the country will be interested to note that a 
committee was appoined in the Assembly as early as 1785 
" to inquire whether the bank established at Philadelphia 
was compatible with the public safety and that equality 
which ought ever to prevail between individuals of a re- 
public." All the arguments we have known in our day 
were advanced to secure the repeal of the bank's charter 
and it answered that " It would be a marvellous thing to 
prohibit the use of water because some people choose to 
drown themselves." The Assembl}^ however, was un- 
friendly and after a long struggle the bank as a State 
institution ceased to exist on September 13, 1785. Thi^; 
affected the stock, but by the close of the year its wealth 
was estimated at $900,000 (silver dollars). 

The directors sought and obtained a charter from the 
State of Delaware and contemplated the removal of the 
bank to that State, but by continued petition to the Penn- 
sylvania Assembl}" they once more secured a charter at 
home. Four other banks now sprang into existence — at 
New York, Boston, Providence, and Baltimore — and the 
banking system of the United States, through the instru- 
mentality of the Bank of North America at Philadelphia, 
had obtained a foothold. 

Thomas Willing died in 1792 and was succeeded by 
John Nixon, an almost equally well-known citizen, who 
is chiefly famous now for having been the first to publicly 
read the Declaration of Independence. The yellow fever 
outbreak of 1798 caused the bank to remove to the Ger- 
mantown Academy, where its transactions were carried 
on for nearly two months, returning to town on Novem- 

232 




f 



THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA 

ber 2nd. Under the presidency of John Morton the bank 
afforded great assistance to the Government during the 
War of 1812 and again in 1861, when civil strife rent the 
Nation, it, with Thomas Smith as president, rendered 
important public service. Although chartered under the 
" National Bank Act " in 1864, the Bank of North Amer- 
ica has retained its original name and is the only national 
bank in the United States which does not have the word 
" National " in its title. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY FOR 

INSURANCES ON LIVES AND 

GRANTING ANNUITIES 




EFORE the railroad and telegraph 
had disturbed the leisurely spirit in 
which business was conducted, men 
of affairs gathered at the noon dinner 
hour at the Merchants' Coffee House 
on Second Street, corner of Gold, 
where now stand the Bonded Ware- 
houses of the United States. The doorway was shaded 
by a large awning under which the men of business would 
congregate for conversation before going in to dine. It 
became an exchange and to be on hand at the mid-day hour 
was a token of standing in the community as a man of 
affairs. 

Here on a day in December, 1809, w^as born the first 
Trust Company in the United States, formed by a group 
of business men for the insurance of lives and granting 
annuities. The group must have presented a more out- 
wardly interesting appearance than similar gatherings of 
to-day, if we may judge from the portraits of the gentle- 
men of that period which hang in Philadelphia galleries. 
Coats of blue, drab or brown, with broad high collars which 
clasped in the ruffled neckcloth; waistcoats of a gayer pat- 
tern of silk or satin; knee breeches and buckled gaiters; 
wigs or queues ; broad brimmed hats and Malacca canes, — 
these, with clean shaven chins and lips, were their quaint 
characteristics; and gravity of bearing was a universal 
trait. 

William Jones, Patrick Gernon, John Warder, John 
Welsh, Augustine Bousquet, William Newbold and Jacob 
Shoemaker were appointed a committee or temporary 

234 



THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY 



Board of Directors for drafting Articles of Association, 
organizing the company and reporting to a meeting of the 
subscribers. The name was to be The Pennsylvania Com- 
pany for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities 
and the stock $5000. P'ire and marine insurance, private 
underwriting and much business now transacted by Trust 
Companies had been done before this, the latter by indi- 
vidual gentlemen of integrity, but the growth of the city's 
business and the increase of private fortunes sought a 
larger and broader instrument for investment. Soon the 
stock was all subscribed and a Board of Directors chosen. 
The Legislature withheld the charter until 1812 and some 
of the subscribers accordingly withdrew, but the rest re- 
mained and upon receipt of favourable news met at the 
Merchants' Coffee House on March 17th and chose Joseph 
Ball president. He had been president of the Society since 
1809 and was a man of sterling worth, who came from 
Berks County to amass a fortune in the Batsto iron works 
in New Jersey but lost it in sustaining the public credit 
with Robert Morris. He was a Director of the Bank of 
the United States and successively president of the Insur- 
ance Company of North America and the Union Insurance 
Company. His country seat was at Port Richmond, where 
he died in 1825, leaving his name to be commemorated by 
the street which bears it. 

Jacob Shoemaker, an eminent Friend, was chosen Act- 
uary and this completed the company's clerical force! 
James Paul soon succeeded the busy Mr. Ball as president. 
He came of good old Colonial stock, was a member of 
the Society of Friends and a merchant of note. In 1813 
Samuel Hodgdon succeeded as president and had to assist 
him as Directors James Paul, Patrick Gernon, Joseph 
Peace, Israel Whelen, John Bohlen, Samuel Yorke, Lewis 

235 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



D. Carpenter, John Cla3i;on, Joshua Longstreth, Jere- 
miah Warder, Jr., Cadwallader Evans and Joseph Hud- 
dell. Mr. Hodgdon had quite a military career, beginning 
upon a frigate of war in 1776. He became a Captain of 
Artiller}% Commissary of Militarj^ Stores, member of the 
Board of War and Commissary General. He was a per- 
sonal friend of General Washington, who was his guest 
upon several occasions. The new president was a man 
of action as his record would indicate and he at once set 
about to locate the company. Jacob Shoemaker's house 
was chosen and a strong box secured for papers, to be kept 
in the Philadelphia Bank. At Shoemaker's house the first 
annuities were sold and insurance effected on June 10, 
1813. Within the year larger quarters were needed and 
the front and back parlours of 72 South Second Street 
were occupied, the rest of the house being reserv^ed for 
jNIr. Shoemaker. The number is now 112 and here the first 
dividend was declared on July 3, 1815. Between 1815 
and 1817 the plain looking house at 509 Chestnut Street 
was secured as was a fire-proof safe. Here the company 
grew for seven years, when it removed to Third and Wal- 
nut Streets. Third Street was a busy thoroughfare in 
those days with the Post Office, Commercial Exchange, 
Girard Bank, newspapers and the offices of brokers in 
every line known to trade. Sanmel Yorke became presi- 
dent in 1814, Condy Raguet in 1816, Jacob Sperry in 
1819 and Dr. Robert M. Patterson in 1822. The last was 
the son of Robert Patterson, LL.D., president of the 
American Philosophical Society, Professor of JVIathematics 
and Vice-Provost of the L^niversity of Pennsylvania, and 
a brigade major in the Revolutionary War. The son was 
a professor in the University of Virginia and later Director 

£36 



THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY 



of the United States Mint. He was the youngest member 
of the Philosophical Society when admitted. 

In 1831 the Directors recommended that the company 
engage in the new business of accepting trusts. Although 
the stockholders agreed in this, the careful deliberation of 
the Quakers seems to have gripped this as well as many 
other enterprises and it was not until 1836 that a supple- 
ment to its charter was granted giving it the new authority. 
John Wagner's house at 138 South Third Street was se- 
cured and the prosperous organization went on under good 
management to a rich harvest in its widened field. 

The upbuilding of the trust department came under 
the care of Hyman Gratz, who from 1837 presided over 
the affairs of the company for twenty momentous years, or 
until the time of his death. 

The vacated home of the Philadelphia Saving Fund 
Society on Walnut above Third Street, now Number 304, 
was leased and the front embellished. By 1859 business 
had increased to such an extent that the company pur- 
chased the property and erected a building of their own. 
Between the perilous years of 1863 and 1866 the company 
had made an extraordinary distribution of surplus and 
increased dividends, an indication of the soundness of con- 
ditions in the North, even after so critical a test had been 
put upon it. By March, 1873, this active concern was on 
the move again and had another new building finished at 
431 Chestnut Street. The insurance business had now 
been entirely discontinued and a department of safe de- 
posits added. Under Lindley Smyth, a capable financier 
and patriot, the company had twenty years of great pros- 
perity and remarkable dividends. It was inevitable then 
that another move should be made and the American 
Hotel, opposite the State House on Chestnut Street, was 

237 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



purchased for the new building, where the business now 
remains. Born in an inn, it continues its career upon the 
site of taverns from the earliest settlement, as has already 
been related. Clarke's Inn, the Coach and Horses, the 
Half-Moon, the State House Inn, the American House, 
by whatever name the hostelry went, were busy places, but 
no frequenter could ever have imagined the vast structure 
which contains one of the largest banking rooms in the 
world. 



FIRE PROTECTION 



f BOUT 1735 Franklin wrote a letter, 
which was published and attracted 
considerable attention. He says: 




" In the first place, as an ounce of 
prevention is worth a pound of cure, I 
would advise how they suffer living brand- 
5^ sends or coals in a full shovel to be cai*- 
ried out of one room into another or up or down stairs, unless 
in a warming-pan and shut ; for scraps of fire may fall into chinks 
and make no appearance until midnight; when your stairs being 
in flames, you may be forced (as I once was) to leap out of your 
windows and hazard your necks to avoid being over-roasted." 

He then goes on to advise the passage of a law, for- 
bidding " too shallow hearths " and the detestable Practice 
of " Putting Wooden Mouldings on each side of the Fire 
Place," and says : 

" If chimneys were more frequently and more carefuly clean'd, 
some fires might thereby be prevented. I have known foul chimneys 
to burn most furiously a few days after they are swept ; people, in 
confidence that they are clean, making large fires. Everybody 
among us is allow'd to sweep chimneys that please to undertake 
that business ; and if a chimney fires thro' fault of the sweeper, 
the owner pays the fine and the sweeper goes free. This thing 
is not right. Those who undertake the sweepings of chimneys and 
employ servants for that purpose, ought to be licensed by the 
Mayor; and if any chimney fires and flames out 15 days after 
sweeping, the fine should be paid by the sweeper ; for it is his fault. 
We have at present got engines enough in the town, but I question 
whether, in many parts of the town, water enough can be had to 
keep them going for half an hour together. It seems to me some 
publick pumps are wanting; but that I submit to better judgments." 

Subsequently Franklin refers to this paper as being 
" spoken of as a useful piece," and one result of it seems 

239 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



to have been the founding of the Union Fire Company, in 
1736, by Franklin and four of his friends. The Union 
Fire Company was an association for mutual assistance, 
Each member agreed to furnish, at his own expense, six 
leather buckets and two stout linen bags, each marked with 
his name and the name of the company, which he was to 
bring to every fire. The buckets were for carrying water 
to extinguish the flames, and the bags were to receive and 
hold property which was in danger, to save it from risk of 
theft. The members pledged themselves to repair to any 
place in danger upon an alarm of fire, with their apparatus. 
Some were to superintend the use of the water, others 
were to stand at the doors of houses in danger, and to pro- 
tect the property from theft. On an alarm of fire at night, 
it was agreed that lights should be placed in the windows 
of houses of members near the fire " in order to prevent 
confusion, and to enable their friends to give them more 
speedy and effectual assistance." The number of mem- 
bers was limited to thirty. Eight meetings were held annu- 
ally. At each meeting there was a supper costing three 
shillings. Members who came late were fined one shilling. 
Upon this plan, with slight variations, all the fire com- 
panies in Philadelphia were conducted until long after the 
Revolutionary War. 

Franklin's Company, the Union, had a long and useful 
career. It was the pioneer and existed for over eighty- 
four years. 

Franklin in his Autobiography tells of soliciting con- 
tributions from the peace-loving Quakers ostensibly for " a 
fire engine " when " a great gun " was to be purchased for 
the protection of the City from the enemy, as " a great gun 
is certainly a fire engine," said lie. 

At the beginning of the 18th century, the problem 

240 



FIRE PROTECTION 



of fires had become of some moment. There were about 
seven hundred dwelling houses in Philadelphia ; fires were 
not numerous but they were unnecessarily destructive, and 
the only appliances for extinguishing them were the bucket, 
the ladder, and the hook, the latter being used for pulling 
down buildings. As early as 1719 an English fire engine 
was purchased for £50. The cost of the fire apparatus was 
provided for by a series of fines, levied for various offenses, 
and among them was one of 12d. for presuming to smoke 
tobacco in the Streets of Philadelphia, either by day or 
night. 

It was quite natural, therefore, that the thoughts of 
Franklin and other prominent men should have turned to 
the subject of Fire Insurance, but it was not until Febru- 
ary 18, 1752, that the following notice appeared in the 
" Pennsylvania Gazette " : 

" All persons inclined to subscribe to the articles of insurance 
of houses from fire, in or near this City, are desired to appear at 
the Court-house, where attendance will be given, to take in their 
subscriptions, every seventh day of the week, in the afternoon, 
until the 13th of April next, being the day appointed by the said 
articles for electing twelve directors and a treasurer." 

Accordingly, on April 13, 1752, the subscribers con- 
vened at the Court House and organized The Philadelphia 
Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss 
by Fire. 

The Lieutenant Governor of the Province, James 
Hamilton, was the first who subscribed, and the first pri- 
vate name was that of Benjamin Franklin. Twelve Di- 
rectors were elected: Benjamin Franklin, William Cole- 
man, Philip Syng (who was also an original member 
with Franklin, of the Union Fire Company), Samuel 
Rhodes, Hugh Roberts, Israel Pemberton, Jr., John 

16 241 



EARLY PHILADELPHL\ 



Mifflin, Joseph Xorris, Joseph Fox, Jonathan Zane, 
William Griffitts and Amos Strettell. 

John Smith was made Treasurer and Joseph Saunders 
Clerk. 

The first advertisement after the company had begun 
business appeared in the " Pennsylvania Gazette " of June 
11, 1752, as follows: 

" Notice is hereby given, That the Insurance Office, for ship- 
ping and houses, is kept by Joseph Saunders, at his house, where 
Israel Pemberton, Senior, lately lived, near the Queen's Head, in 
Water Street." 

The office of the Contributionship was for many years 
afterwards at No. 99 High Street (now Xo. 239 ]Market 
Street) where Caleb Carmalt, the Clerk for forty-two 
years, lived. 

In 1818 the office was No. 25 (now No. 109) Dock 
Street, and in 1835 No. 96 (now No. 212) South Fourth 
Street was purchased, and the present office building 
erected thereon, where until the advent of safe deposit 
companies the Secretary and Treasurer was required to 
live as custodian of the securities. 

The plan of the company was that of mutual assurance 
and the members were called contributors. Policies were 
issued for a term of seven years, upon payment of a de- 
posit, the interest of which, during the continuance of the 
policy, belonged to the company. At the first meeting 
of the Directors held ^lay 11, 1752, " a seal for the com- 
pany was ordered, being four hands miited," the badge 
or mark of which was placed on every property which was 
insured. 

The minutes of May 23, 1752, show that " Benjamin 
Franklin is desired to get a sufficient number of policies 
printed," and those of December 24, 1753, that Benjamin 

£42 





FIRE MARK OF THE 
CONTRIBUTIONSHIP 



FIRE MARK OF THE IMUTUAL 
ASSURANCE CO. 




GARDEN OF THE PHILADELPHIA CONTRIBUTIONSHIP IN SOUTH_FOURTH STREET 

The last garden in the Old City, 1917 



FIRE PROTECTION 



Franklin attended to the engrossing of the insurance 
articles and also that he "do publish an advertisement 
in the ' Gazette ' " relative to the risk of storing gun- 
powder and breaming of ships, which was cleaning their 
bottoms by burning off the barnacles. 

Owing probably to his numerous absences from this 
City on public matters, Franklin did not serve as a Director 
after 1754, but he retained his active interest in the com- 
pany, and in 1763 he insured another house, in addition 
to those insured by Policies Nos. 19 and 20, taken out in 
1752. In 1767 he insured his new house " where his family 
dwells " for £500, by Policy No. 1148. Later he wrote 
from abroad several letters relative to fireproof construc- 
tion, to Samuel Rhodes, who for eleven years had continued 
as a Director. 

As has before been said, at first every policy in The 
Philadelphia Contributionship was for a term of seven 
years. A certain deposit was made at the beginning of the 
term, a policy issued and an account opened with each 
contributor. His deposit was charged its proportion of 
the expenses and losses, and credited with any interest 
which might have been earned. If during the seven years 
the deposit, owing to losses, was used up, another deposit 
was made. At the expiration of the seven years, the con- 
tributor might withdraw so much of his deposit as re- 
mained, or renew his insurance. 

In 1763 a change was unanimously voted by the con- 
tributors, and it was agreed that thereafter the interest on 
the deposits should be carried to a common account and 
out of it the losses should be paid, and the deposit money 
should not be drawn upon until the interest was exhausted; 
the contributor, however, not to be liable beyond his deposit 
money. 

243 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



This method has been continued to this day and with 
such marked success, that the contributors in 1894-95 
agreed that the funds had accumulated sufficiently to war- 
rant paying dividends out of the yearly net income there- 
from. The company was incorporated in 1768; its policies 
continued to be seven-year policies until 1810, when they 
were made and have ever since continued to be perpetual. 

The " Hand-in-Hand," as " The Philadelphia Contri- 
butionship " is familiarly known, is a purely mutual com- 
pany, although its members are not liable for assessment. 
It has no stockholders, consequently the only interest to 
be considered is that of the policyholders. After one hun- 
dred and fifty-four years this company, of which Franklin 
was the first Director, is still in business for the public 
good, and for all these years it has never ceased to fulfill 
its mission of giving indemnity against loss by fire, and 
has ever continued to spread its usefulness, and stands 
to-day not only the oldest Fire Insurance Company in 
America, but also one of the strongest active Fire Insur- 
ance Companies in the world. 

The prevention of fires in the early days w^as not easy 
and many conceived that there was a grave jeopardy in 
the overhanging branches of shade trees which might catch 
fu^e from a blazing chimney and spread it farther in winter, 
and in both summer and winter nmst interfere with the 
application of water in the endeavour to extinguish the 
fire. The apprehensive directors of the Contributionship 
called a meeting of the subscribers of that organization in 
April, 1781, to consider the propriety of " Ensuring or 
Re-insuring Houses having Trees planted before them in 
the Street." The owners of shade trees being in a minority 
at this meeting, it was resolved that " no Houses having a 
Tree or Trees planted before them shall be Insured or 

244 



FIRE PROTECTION 



Re-insured," and " that if any Person in future having a 
House Insured shall plant a Tree or Trees before it in 
the street, if not removed in three months from the time 
of planting he shall forfeit the benefit of Insurance." 
Legislation followed against the objectionable use of trees 
in 1782 only to be repealed a few months later, upon the 
urgent solicitation of tree lovers. Indignant owners of 
the debarred properties immediately set about organizing 
a rival insurance company so that they might have the trees 
which were " agreeable and convenient to them." The 
new company sprang into existence in 1784 and the badge 
or house mark was naturally a leaden tree on a shield- 
shaped board. Thus was born The Mutual Assurance 
Company for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire, more 
frequently called the " Green Tree." The subscription 
papers were lodged with William Craig in Second Street 
and John Philips at the corner of Front and Pine. The 
office was opened by John Jennings, Clerk, at his house in 
Quarry Street between Moravian Alley and Third Street 
and notice was given that Matthew Clarkson, in Front 
between Market and Arch Street, " will also receive appli- 
cations " for insurance. 

When the original deed of settlement was drawn up at 
the meeting in September, 1784, trees were allowed by the 
policy, under a charge of 17 to 20 shillings, with a proviso 
that they should be kept trimmed down to the eaves of the 
house, and if any tree was planted and not reported 
within a year, the policy should be declared void. 

The charter was obtained February 27, 1786. The 
incorporators named were Matthew Clarkson, William 
Craig, Benjamin Wynkoop, John Phillips, John Clement 
Stocker, Thomas Franklin, Isaac Jones, John Harrison, 
Joseph Sims, Philip Wager, James Cooper, Presley 

245 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Blackiston and John Wharton. These were also named 
as trustees of the company until the annual meeting in the 
following October. 

The act of incorporation also created the office of 
treasurer, and named George Emlen as the incumbent 
of that office, directing, at the same time, that he should 
remain in office until the annual meeting of the insurers 
on the first INIonday of the October following. 

The office of president does not appear for many years 
after the commencement of business by the company. 
Those who were occasionally called president received this 
title only by virtue of being the presiding officer at the 
meetings of the board of trustees. The title of president 
was not recognized in the by-laws. The senior member 
of the Board usually presided. 

In the old records of the company the following refer- 
ences to the president are mentioned: " January 13, 1810, 
the death was announced of the late President, Thomas 
Ewing, ]\Iay 13, 1811, William Poyntell, president. Octo- 
ber 14, 1812, James Read, president, and occasionally 
chairman. November 10, 1813, letter from James Read, 
Esq., resigning his seat as president of the board." Octo- 
ber 5, 1814, Robert Wharton, president to October 7, 
1829; 1830, Daniel Smith; 1834, James C. Fisher; 1841, 
Richard Willing; 1855, Thomas Riddle; 1857, George 
Cadwalader; 1870, Samuel Welsh; 1890, John Lambert; 
1901, S. Weir Mitchell; 1906, J. Dickinson Sergeant; 
1909, Henry W. Riddle. 

The list of the company's treasurers is as follows: 1786- 
96, George Emlen; 1796-1801, Joseph Sims; 1801-02, 
William Poyntell; 1802-03, Paul Beck; 1803-05, William 
Poyntell; 1805-29, John R. Palmer; 1829-33, John 
Clement Stocker; 1833-56, Lawrence Lewis; 1856-81, 

246 



FIRE PROTECTION 



David Lewis, and 1881 up until the present time, Clifford 
Lewis. 

In the old days meetings were held in the Court House, 
City Hall, Indian King, and the house of Henry Knorr, 
on the Schuylkill, until the purchase of an office, in 1812, 
at No. 54 Walnut Street. The company continued to 
meet here until 1856, when it purchased the building No. 
526 Walnut Street, where it retained its offices till the 
occupancy of its present buildings, Nos. 238-240 South 
Fourth Street, on November 1, 1912. 

It is related that at the time of the death of President 
Washington, the news reached the board of trustees while 
at their monthly dinner. Since that period the memory of 
the first President of the United States has always been 
revered by a standing toast upon these occasions. 

The method of effecting insurance in the company has 
always been quite simple. A deposit is paid at the time the 
policy is issued, the property continuing to be insured as 
long as the deposit remains with the company. In the 
event of a policy-holder wishing to discontinue his insur- 
ance, the amount of the deposit was returned to him on 
demand, less 5 per cent., and the policy cancelled. 

There have never been any stockholders in the concern, 
and the interest received from deposits invested created a 
fund out of which to pay the losses and expenses. 

Nearly every Philadelphian is familiar with the metal 
badges of the Fire Insurance Companies which appear 
high up on the front walls of the older houses, but few 
realize the significance which these fire-plates — or, more 
properly, fire-marks — bore in the early days of fire 
insurance. 

With the modern fire department trained to respond 
quickly to all fires, without question as to whether the 

247 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



building menaced is insured or not, it is difficult for us to 
conceive of a fire company answering the alarm and, dis- 
covering that the building did not bear the mark of their 
own insurance company, quietly going home and to bed^ 
leaving the fire to he put out by the owner with what assist- 
ance he might get from his neighbours. Yet such was the 
practice of the Fire Brigades of the early days. Each 
insurance company maintained its own corps of men 
trained to extinguish fires, and their activities were strictly 
confined to buildings insured in their own company. 
Indeed, one English company made it a rigid rule that its 
firemen were not to render assistance at any burning build- 
ing which did not bear its own distinctive mark. The mark 
therefore was very useful. INIany insurance policies were 
not complete until it had been affixed to the house. 

With the advent of the paid P^ire Department — or 
even before, when the various volunteer fire companies 
agreed to overlook selfishly material considerations and 
in accordance with truly humane principles offer their 
assistance at every fire — the fire-mark lost its former use- 
fulness and became merely a decorative emblem of the 
company. Hence, the distinction between the fire-mark 
and the fire-plate, the former being useful and the latter 
decorative. 

The use of the fire-mark seems to have originated in 
London, and was ahuost coincident with the founding of 
the system of fire indemnity. It was in 1667, immediately 
after the great fire which devastated that metroj)olis, that 
Dr. Nicholas Barbon estabhshed the first office for the 
transaction of fire insurance. In 1680 his business was 
taken over by a company called the Fire Office. This 
company maintained a fire brigade, the first of the organ- 
ized and trained volunteer companies. It is at this time 

248 



FIRE PROTECTION 



that the use of fire-marks began. They were made princi- 
pally of lead, though later they seem to have been of tin, 
copper and cast-iron. The numbers of the policies for 
which they were issued were either stamped, cut out or 
painted on the bottom. The marks were then painted, 
often in red and gold, making a very brilliant appearance. 
IMost companies would not issue a policy for over £1500 
sterling; hence it frequently happened that a building 
having several of these gay marks affixed, would present 
to the world a decorative effect truly Oriental and bizarre. 
A rhyme published in 1816, referring to a certain Eng- 
lish lord, aptly says: 

" For not e'en the Regent himself has endured 

(Though I've seen him with badges and orders all shine 
Till he looked like a house that was over insured) — " 

On this side of the water the use of fire-marks began 
with the establishment of fire indemnity. The Philadel- 
phia Contributionship for the Insm-ance of Houses from 
Loss by Fire was fashioned after the Amicable Contribu- 
tionship of London. Its mark of four leaden hands, 
clasped and crossed, and mounted on a wooden shield, was 
a modification of the two clasped hands of the London 
Company, and hence was known as the " Hand-in-Hand " 
Insurance Society. That they early turned their thoughts 
to the matter of a proper fire-mark is shown by the fact 
that at the meeting of May 20, 1752, Hugh Roberts, one 
of the directors, was directed " to treat with John Stow 
about making the marks for Houses Insured," and on July 
22, 1752, " An Order was drawn on the Treasury to pay 
John Stow for One hundred ISIarks, the Sum of Twelve 
pounds, ten Shillings." It would appear, therefore, that 
the use of fire-marks began in this country in 1752. 

249 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



The assured was charged seven shiUings, sixpence — 
or about a dollar and eighty-seven cents — for policy, sur- 
vey and mark. Lest it be thought that the Contribution- 
ship derived an extraordinary profit from this charge, it 
must be said that the marks cost two shillings, sixpence 
apiece; the same sum was paid the surveyor for each sur- 
vey, leaving only about sixty-two cents to cover the cost of 
the policy, affixing the mark, and each policy's propor- 
tionate share of office expenses. 

The usefulness of the fire-mark in those early days is 
clearly shown by a significant extract from the minutes of 
the meeting of October 3, 1755, wherein it is related that 
the directors 

" proceeded to View the House of Edward Shippen in Walnut 
Street No. 103, that was damaged by means of a Fire which 
happen'd at the House of William Hodge, situate in that Neigh- 
bourhood; Which House of E. Shippen having no badge put up. 
The Directors observ'ing that much of the damage was done thro' 
Indiscretion, which they think might have been prevented had it 
appear'd by the Badge being placed up to Notify that the House 
was so immediately under their Care ; to prevent the like Mischief 
for the Future; It is now Ordered that the Clerk shall go round 
and Examine who have not yet put up their Badges ; and inform 
tliose that they are requested to fix them immediately, as the 
Major part of the Contributors have done, or pay Nathaniel 
Goforth & William Rakestraw, who is appointed for that service." 

Upon the cancellation of the insurance on a building 
an allowance of two shillings, sixpence was made for the 
return of the mark, thereby reducing the original cost of 
the policy. This original cost remained seven shillings 
sixpence until the Revolution, when because of the great 
demand for bullets, the clerk was " ordered to receive 
seventeen shillings Earnest for each policy after this date, 

260 



FIRE PROTECTION 



the Price of Lead being so much increased as to make this 
necessary." 

Franklin refers in his Autobiography to the origin of 
the first volunteer fire company, which has already been 
mentioned, and says: 

" The utility of this institution soon appeared ; and many 
more desiring to be admitted than we thought convenient for one 
company, they were asked to form another, which was accordingly 
done, and this went on, one new Company after another being 
formed, till they became so numerous as to include most of the 
inhabitants who were men of property." 

Among the early companies was the Queen Charlotte, 
all of whose members were from the German Lutheran 
Church; the Northern Liberty Fire Company, the Dili- 
gence and the Hand-in-Hand, organized in 174!l. Among 
the incorporators of the last were Benjamin Franklin, 
Benjamin Rush, Robert Morris and John Clymer. 

The Hand-in-Hand claimed to have a continuous 
existence from 1741 to 1870, but there has been some dis- 
pute as to whether its existence was continuous, and an 
important law case grew out of this controversy, with much 
taking of testimony, in 1858, the issue being whether the 
Hand-in-Hand or the Hibernia was entitled to march first 
in the Firemen's Parade. 

The Hibernia, the nationality of whose founders can- 
not be in doubt, was formed in 1852. Upon its coat-of- 
arms was appropriately placed the motto, " To assist the 
suffering and protect the weak." 

From the By-Laws and Minutes of the Hibernia, one 
learns something of the methods of fire fighting in those 
days. Each member had to provide two leather buckets, 
two bags and one large wicker basket with two handles. 
The bags and baskets were used to save articles of prop- 

251 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



erty, and the use of the buckets is obvious. This personal 
fire apparatus was to be kept by the member in his hall, 
immediately by the front door. At an alarm of fire, given 
on a great gong by the State House, each member was to 
put candles in the windows of his own home, so that his 
fellow-firemen would know which house should first re- 
ceive attention, for under the constitution of the Hibernia 
it was only " when none of our own houses, goods and 
effects are in danger." If the alarm sounded at night, a 
member would hurry to his front door, put his buckets, 
bags and baskets into the street where others on the way 
to the fire might pick them up and take them along 
promptly. He would then hastily dress and rush to the 
scene. 

Even prior to the formation of the Union Fire Com- 
pany, there was in Philadelphia a sort of fire engine which 
had been imported from England by a public-spirited 
citizen. The Hibernia imported another engine in 1758. 
A bucket line would form from a pump neighbom*ing to 
the fire, or from the Delaware River, and the buckets would 
be filled, passed from hand to hand along the line, and 
poured into the little hand engine. Water was precious, so 
the gutters would be dammed up to catch any that ran 
back from the fire, and this would again be bailed into the 
engine. In 1791, the Union procured 80 feet of hemp 
hose, which was kept in salt pickle to preser^^e it. This 
kind of hose did not work well, but constantly leaked. In 
1803 someone invented a leather hose of spiral strips of 
leather riveted together, sold at 80 cents a foot; and 300 
feet were purchased by the Hibernia. 

In 1781 Franklin had cause to write in the Autobi- 
ography: " so that I question wliether tliere is a city in 
the world better provided with the means of putting a stop 

252 



FIRE PROTECTION 



to beginning conflagrations ; and in fact, since these insti- 
tutions, the city has never lost by fire more than one or 
two houses at a time, and the flames have often been 
extinguished before the house in which they began has 
been half consumed." 

In 1821 there were 35 fire companies in active service 
in Philadelphia. By 1838 there were 44, and these 44 
companies incorporated the Fire Association of Phila- 
delphia. This Association was authorized by its charter 
to issue policies of fire insurance and the profits and divi- 
dends of the business were distributed among the fire 
companies. Thus did Quaker thrift make out of virtue 
more than its own reward. In 1856, the volunteer com- 
panies, then numbering 78, with an active membership 
of 2100, and a total membership of 7500, were confed- 
erated to form the Fire Department of Philadelphia. In 
the same year the first steam fire engine was bought, but 
of it the Chief of the Department said : " So far as regards 
extinguishment, it is an utterly worthless article." Two 
years later the Hibernia bought an improved steam engine ; 
it cost $4500 and was such a novelty that it was exhibited 
and received a great ovation in New York, Brooklyn, 
Boston, Newark and Charleston. When Fortress Monroe 
was being attacked in 1862, President Lincoln called upon 
the Hibernia for eight volunteers and the use of their steam 
engine to protect that important fortress. In 1870 a paid 
Fire Department superseded the volunteer system, for rea- 
sons obvious from the following records : 



1814, Jan. 29— Gin at the fire, 65 cents. 

1814, May 1— Gin at the fire, $1.00. 

1815, Oct. 25 — Quart of gin at the fire, 34 cents. 
1815, Dec. 13 — One-half gallon of gin at the fire, 

62^ cents. 
253 



EARLY PHILADELPHU 



The American Hose Company, as did all the compa- 
nies, had a schedule of fines for offenses. " For being 
visibly intoxicated while wearing the equipment or badge of 
the company — for the first offense, $5.00; for the second 
offense, $10.00; for the third offense, expulsion." The 
constitution of that company provided " Spirituous liquors 
shall not be admitted into the house on any occasion." There 
was a fine of $2.00 imposed upon any member who " aids 
or encourages the carriage in a trial of speed with that of 
any other company returning from a fire or false alarm." 
In the rules established by the Fire Department in 1855, 
there is record evidence of another prevalent fault: " Any 
company who shall be guilty of rioting or fighting in the 
public streets, shall pay a fine for the first offense, $25.00 ; 
for the second offense, $35.00, and for the third offense, 
$50.00." Evidently firemen were favoured, if not in the eyes 
of the law, at least in its administration, for the report of 
the Chief Engineer of the Department in 1856 recommends 
a strict enforcement of the criminal law against members 
who participated in fighting, then so common at fires, and 
he regrets that " at present, every one arrested in case of 
an outbreak, can, if he has a friend or two outside to interest 
themselves in his behalf, escape from punishment, and 
finding that with the influence of his friends to sustain 
him, he can violate the law with impunit}^ he becomes 
more tm-bulent than ever." As so often is the case some 
few members brought the whole into disrepute, and the old 
order of the volunteer system changed and gave place to the 
new paid department because these few were, to use the lan- 
guage of the Police Court, " drunk and disorderly." 

On the Old York Road near Noble Street there was 
a tall flag pole with the figure of an Indian upon the top. 
It was the custom of the fire companies to take their engine 

254 



FIRE PROTECTION 



there to test it by seeing if they could throw a stream of 
water to the top of the " Indian Pole," as it was called. 
These exhibitions attracted crowds of people and are re- 
membered by persons now living. 

The rows between rival fire companies at a fire became 
characteristics of the time and many of these fights for 
priority took precedence over the fire in the attentions of 
the companies. 

Some of the fire companies, notably the United States, 
were composed chiefly of Quakers, and it was a curious 
sight to see these enthusiastic Friends rushing to a fire in 
their brightly coloured tin hats and plain coats. 




THE INSURANCE COMPANY OF 
NORTH AMERICA 



'UNDRY citizens of Philadelphia, and 
some of Boston, planned an associa- 
tion " for the purpose of raising a 
fund upon lives, to be applied to the 
charitable and other uses," early in 
1792, upon the experience of similar 
efforts in Boston and Xew York, 
both of which had failed. " The Universal Tontine," as 
it was named to avoid the appearance of only a local scope, 
was called to the attention of Ebenezer Hazard by his 
friend Samuel Blodget, Jr., a son-in-law of Provost 
William Smith of the University. Five agents were ap- 
pointed, John iSIaxwell Nesbitt, Walter Stewart, Jasper 
Moylan, Samuel Blodget, Jr., and John Dewhurst, and 
one Secretary, to wit, Ebenezer Hazard. One hundred and 
eighty-seven persons signed the Articles of Association and 
]Mr. Blodget subscribed 50,000 shares to be offered for sale 
in Boston. The failure of the Boston and Xew York Ton- 
tines and the general disrepute of the plan caused the 
project to lag and at a meeting of the subscribers held at 
the State House on November 3, 1792, a plan for a general 
Insurance Company was substituted. Nesbitt, Moylan, 
Stewart and Blodget of the original committee, with Alex- 
ander James Dallas, IMatthew McConnell and Edward 
Fox were appointed to devise a plan for employing the 
fund in hand. Subsequent meetings of the subscribers at 
the same place led to the formation of the Insurance Com- 
pany of North America before the close of the month. 
Mr. Hazard received the subscriptions at his new house, 
now Number 415 Arch Street, and soon had the minimum 
amount of 40,000 shares subscribed. Thus was born in the 

256 




FIRST HOME OF THE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA 
AT 'i\3 SOUTH FRONT STREET 



INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA 



famous old Independence Room of the State House a 
company which was " To make such Insurance upon Ves- 
sels and Merchandise at Sea, or going to Sea, or upon the 
life or lives of any person or persons, or upon any goods, 
wares, merchandise, or other property gone or going by 
land or water; and at such Rates of Insurance or Premium 
as they shall deem advisable." 

Marine insurance was not new, and private under- 
writers did a good business from London in the Colonies. 
In the Penn and Logan correspondence we find frequent 
mention of the subject, against which Penn had some 
scruples. 

The first book printed by Franklin was entitled " Ways 
and Means for the Inhabitants of Delaware to become 
Rich," by Francis Rawle, in which insurance is praised 
and in 1752 Franklin was greatly instrumental in founding 
the first insurance company on the continent. John Copson 
opened an insurance agency at his house on High Street in 
1721 and we know that Joseph Saunders, an eminent 
Friend, was among the local underwriters of the day. His 
policies began with the invocation, " In the Name of God, 
Amen." The beginnings of associated underwriting were 
in 1757, when several merchants under the name of Thomas 
Willing and Company entered into articles of agreement 
to insure ships, vessels, goods and merchandise. 

The Board of Directors of the Insurance Company of 
North America met the day following their election, 11th 
December, 1792, at the City Tavern, west side of Second 
Street north of Walnut, elected John Maxwell Nesbitt 
President and Ebenezer Hazard, Secretary. Offices were 
opened in what is now 213 South Front Street and on 
the 15th of December the first policies issued. It is curious 
to note in their petition to the Legislature for a charter 

17 257 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



the Directors enlarge upon their desire to serve the public 
welfare by providing much needed underwriting of re- 
sponsibility and that these conditions, rather than the hope 
of individual gain, have led them to associate for the 
beneficent purpose named. There is no doubt that these 
gentlemen were serious and sincere, although in the light 
of the present day attitude toward corporations one is 
compelled to smile at their phrases. Perhaps if the trust 
accorded these worthies was exhibited now we would be 
rid of much abuse in word and deed. 

The opposition, however, even in those days made a con- 
siderable showing, being composed of individual under- 
writers whose trade was threatened, and the charter was 
delayed until April 18, 1794. The principle of no inter- 
locking directors, which we have hailed as a modern idea, 
was enunciated in the charter and as soon as any director 
was chosen in like capacity in another company his place 
was declared vacant. 

Mr. Hazard opened the books and wrote the first 
policies, but in a few days a clerk and a porter were sup- 
plied to him. The first received $500 a year and the last 
,£6 per month, " and a hint of a douceur at Cliristmas." 
The first policy was issued to Conyngham, Nesbitt & Co. 
on the ship America, James Swing, Master, from Phila- 
delphia to Londonderry, for $5333.33, at 23^4 P^i* cent. 
The office hours were from nine to two o'clock and from 
four to eight. The President was required to be on hand 
from eleven to two and from five until eight o'clock. The 
committee of the week of the Board must be in attendance 
every day from twelve to two and from six until eight. As 
early as 2nd March, 1795, a risk of $35,000 was taken, 
a very considerable one for those days. JNIucli anxiety was 
felt during the troublous times with France and Britain 

258 



INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA 



but careful management brought the company through 
safely. 

Fire insurance claimed the attention of the Board of 
Directors at an early period as the two existing companies 
insured houses only. A fire-mark of a wavy star cast in 
lead and mounted on a wooden shield was adopted and on 
December 10, 1794, the first two pohcies were issued, both 
on dry goods. The star badge was shortly abandoned 
and another substituted. 

The first life policies were issued for insuring persons 
against capture by Algerines in 1794 and the terms of the 
early life risks were short. This branch of the business 
did not survive a decade, and it was not until the incorpora- 
tion of the Pennsylvania Company in 1812 that life insur- 
ance secured any extension through the community. 

Nearly opposite the company's office on South Front 
Street lived the president, Mr. Nesbitt, with his counting 
house on the first floor, as was the early custom. Joseph 
Moylan, a director, lived next door and John Ross nearby. 
Isaac Wharton and David Lewis, Robert Ralston, Miers 
Fisher, Peter Blight, Nalbre Frazier, Francis West, 
Samuel R. Fisher, Mordecai Lewis, and John Morton 
were all within a stone's throw on South Front Street. 
The Philadelphia Dancing Assembly made an offer to 
the company to erect a suitable building for joint use, 
but the project was not carried out. The social life of 
the City was connected with its trade in a definite way 
such as is not dreamed of now. 

During the yellow fever outbreak of 1793 Mr. Hazard, 
deserted by clerks and directors, moved books, papers and 
business to his house at 145 Arch Street, where he and 
eight others of his household contracted the epidemic, two 
of them dying from it. The faithful porter, John Valen- 

259 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



tine Cline, rode out on horseback to President Nesbitt in 
the country at Nicetown and Hart Lanes and Hazard 
kept up the business of the company, writing 53 pohcies 
during this trying time. In 1794 the offices were moved 
to the southwest corner of Fourth and Walnut Streets, 
and in 1797 to the opposite corner. The fever breaking 
out again in this year, the business went over to Arch 
Street and in 1798 all records were removed to the Ger- 
mantown Academy, orders being taken for insurance at 
Sixth and Arch Streets. The next move was to the corner 
of School House Lane on the INIain Street of Germantown, 
whence Mr. Hazard removed during the prevalence of 
the epidemic. 

In 1804 Number 204 South Second Street, as it now 
is, was leased so as to be near the Exchange and in 1800 
they removed to Number 138. In 1834 a location at the 
southwest corner of Walnut and Dock Streets was secured, 
and as business increased the company moved again to 
232 Walnut Street in 1851, erecting a new building on 
the site. Adjoining properties were gradually secured to 
accommodate the growing business until in 1881 the present 
new building was completed and occupied. 

John M. Nesbitt and Ebenezer Hazard have been 
shown as the leading spirits in the earliest days of the 
company. The former was an Irishman who came here 
in 1728, was successful in mercantile business and an 
active member of the First Troop throughout the Revolu- 
tion. He was a faithful patriot, and besides his personal 
services in the field was interested in the formation of the 
Pennsylvania Bank and the Bank of North America, lend- 
ing his aid toward sustaining the credit of the country and 
the provisioning of Washington's army. 

260 



INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA 

To the energy and industry of Ebenezer Hazard was 
due the instant success of the company. He was prominent 
in many undertakings. He was a graduate of Princeton 
College, of the Class of 1762, and was engaged in the book 
business in New York until 1775, when the Continental 
Congress appointed him Postmaster there. From 1777 to 
1782 he was surveyor of post-roads and offices and travelled 
from New Hampshire to Georgia on horseback until he 
became Postmaster General of the United States, suc- 
ceeding Richard Bache and Benjamin Franklin in that 
position and which he held for seven years. This high 
position brought him gladly to a residence in his native 
city, instead of being " hurried through life on horseback " 
and in this settled state he was able to contribute much 
to recorded history and to engage in so notable an enter- 
prise as the Insurance Company of North America. His 
steadfastness and faithfulness, so characteristic of the man, 
have been related in connection with the company's busi- 
ness at the time of the yellow fever in Philadelphia. His 
industry and energy were exceptional, and he says he is 
" seldom with my family, except at meal times and while I 
am asleep." He was a devout Presbyterian and fine Greek 
scholar. The records of many useful enterprises bear his 
name and he was one of Philadelphia's least mentioned but 
most distinguished citizens. 

Colonel Charles Pettit, who succeeded Mr. Nesbitt 
as president, was a public man of note, serving in numerous 
positions in the Colonial Government of New Jersey and 
on the staff of Major General Greene. He was in the 
Pennsylvania Legislature and the Continental Congress, 
a Trustee of the University and member of the Philosophi- 
cal Society. Joseph Ball succeeded him and was a patriot 

261 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



and successful business man. He rendered important ser- 
vice to Robert jNIorris in sustaining the credit of the Nation. 
John Inskeep, John C. Smith, Arthur G. Coffin, and 
Charles Piatt followed in the capacity of president. Mr. 
Piatt was elected in 1878 but had entered upon the com- 
pany's work in 1860 as secretary. His long service through 
the trying years of the country's history was notable as 
covering the most active period of the business which 
became one of the foremost of American institutions. 



THE PHILADELPHIA SAVING FUND 

SOCIETY 




f LTHOUGH so many of Philadel- 
phia's well and widely known institu- 
tions are before us to-day it so hap- 
pens that many of her early citizens 
of the greatest capacity and distinc- 
tion have been forgotten except within 
^ a very small circle of persons. Such 
a one was Condy Raguet, a man of many attainments. He 
was born in Philadelphia in 1784 and educated at the 
University. To complete his education he twice visited 
Santo Domingo and published two accounts concerning 
it. During the War of 1812 and after the British 
had captured the national capital there was great con- 
cern in Philadelphia over the expected fall of Baltimore 
and march on the City. As Colonel of a regiment 
Condy Raguet took a prominent part in the preparations 
for defense. About this time he turned his attention 
to finance and published his " An Inquiry into the 
Causes of the Present State of the Circulating Medium 
of the United States." In 1816 the City director}^ shows 
that he was in business as a merchant at 80 Dock Street 
and lived at 308 Chestnut Street. Soon afterwards he 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1820. With his 
generous equipment Mr. Raguet went to South America 
and was United States Consul at Rio Janeiro from 1822 
to 1825. For the next two years he was Charge d'Affaires 
and successfully negotiated a treaty with Brazil. On his 
return to the United States he became widely known as a 
publicist on free trade doctrines through frequent contri- 
butions to the " Port-Folio " and other periodicals. He 
edited " The Free Trade Advocate," " The Examiner " 

263 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



and " The Financial Register " and was the author of 
" The Principles of Free Trade " and a treatise " On Cur- 
rency and Banking," republished in London and Paris 
and very highly esteemed to-day. He was a member of 
the Legislature, president of the Chamber of Commerce 
and of the Pennsylvania Life Insurance Company and a 
member of the American Philosophical Society. 

It is, however, as the originator of the first Savings 
Fund Society in America that Colonel Raguet has the 
best claim to the enduring thanks of posterit}". His ideas 
on this subject were formed in 1816 after reading about 
the first in Edinburgh, then six years old, and he invited 
Richard Peters, Jr., to join him in establishing such 
an institution. Mr. Peters agreed with enthusiasm and 
a number of gentlemen were asked to meet at the Penn- 
sylvania Insm-ance Company's office on November 25th. 
Thomas Hale and Clement C. Biddle joined heartily in 
the undertaking and these four were the founders. Others 
who became interested in the formation of the Society were 
John Strawbridge, John C. Stocker, John McCrea, 
Roberts Vaux, William Schlatter, Charles X. Bancker, 
Samuel Breck and Andrew Bayard. Colonel Raguet sub- 
mitted the plan of Association which, with amendments, 
was temporarily agreed to after several meetings during 
November. Andrew Bayard was chosen president, George 
Billington secretary and the Society opened its doors for 
business on December 2nd at ]Mr. Billington's office, No. 
22 South Sixth Street. Curtis Roberts, Mr. Raguet's 
colored waiter, made the first deposit on this day and so 
in less than a fortnight this great idea became a reality. On 
the 4th a meeting was held at Rubicam's Tavern, next 
to the office, at which the president presided for the first 
time and the Articles of Association were adopted for 

264 




THE SAVING FUND SOCIETY'S FIRST HOME AT SIXTH AND MINOR STREETS 

(at the right) 



.■<.•=' J^jK''' 




SEVENTH AND WALNUT STREETS BEFORE THE KKI.(ri()N OF THE SAVING 
FUNDS PRESENT BUILDING 



THE PHILADELPHIA SAVING FUND SOCIETY 



"The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society." The name 
" bank " was anathema in the public mind at that time. 

An address to the public, the Articles of Association 
and the list of officers was published on December 13th 
and printed in pamphlet form with supplementary argu- 
ments by a committee consisting of Condy Raguet, Richard 
Peters, Jr., and Roberts Vaux. The meetings were held 
at seven o'clock in the evening, as it was the custom then 
to dine at three or four o'clock and take the evening repast 
at eight. The pamphlet began with the following quota- 
tion from Franklin who was dead but whose influence still 
seemed potent and necessary: 

" The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It 
depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality; that is waste 
neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without 
industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything. 
He that gets all he can honestly, and saves all he gets, necessary 
expenses excepted, will certainly become rich, if that Being who 
governs the world, to whom all should look for a blessing on their 
honest endeavours, doth not in His wise providence otherwise 
determine." 

Then follows an argument to induce saving and tables 
showing to what a small saving will grow by depositing 
with the Society. The same committee applied for incor- 
poration in 1817 and in 1819 it was granted. The amount 
of annual individual deposits was limited to $500 and in 
1828 reduced to $200 where it stayed until 1869 when it 
was extended to the original amount. 

In 1818 the Society moved across the street to the 
southwest corner of Sixth and Minor Streets, where it re- 
mained until 1821 when Number 2 Decatur (now Mar- 
shall) Street became the office. This site was not satis- 
factory and in 1826 the Society moved to the southwest 

265 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



corner of Third and Walnut Streets, just across from the 
house of James Wilson, where the riot occurred in 1779. 
The depositors now numbered 3543 and their deposits 
amounted to $575,027.94. The growing business soon 
required more room and the next year was moved to No. 
66, now 304, Walnut Street. By 1840 a new building- 
was erected after plans by Thomas N. Walter at No. 68 
(306) Walnut Street, which was the first built and occu- 
pied by the Society. It is a white marble structure with 
Ionic columns and was occupied until the new building at 
Walnut Street and Washington Square was erected in 
1869. Up to the first of the year 1916 there had been 
received from depositors a total of $605,494,279.24 to which 
has been added interest amounting to $74,985,383.60, mak- 
ing a grand total of $680,479,661.84. There are now over 
a hundred thousand more depositors in the Philadelphia 
Saving Fund Society than in any other bank in the United 
States and to take care of the variety of nationalities re- 
quires a retinue of interpreters, some of whom speak seven 
languages. The managers of the Society are appointed 
by the Judges of the Philadelphia Court and their work 
has increased over that of the founders about in the pro- 
portion that wages have advanced from the figures named 
in the first tables published by the Society a centurj- ago, 
which mentioned " female domestics " as receiving from 
one dollar and a quarter to two dollars a week and coach- 
men eleven to fifteen dollars a month. 



TITLE INSURANCE AND SAFE 
DEPOSITS 




^ N olden times a person wishing to pur- 
chase a property would go with the 
owner to a conveyancer who would 
furnish him with a brief of title, a set 
of searches and the opinion of counsel 
thought to be experienced in real 
estate transfers. This method was 
not always satisfactory and nowadays a policy of title 
insurance to accompany papers in a purchase, backed and 
issued by a responsible title insurance company, is as indis- 
pensable as a policy of fire insurance. This modern method 
came into being on the 28th of March, 1876, when the 
Governor of Pennsylvania granted a franchise, under an 
act of the Legislature, to The Real Estate Title Insurance 
Company of Philadelphia to insure titles and this was the 
first ever granted by any governmental authority in the 
world. Such a plan for protection and indemnity is an- 
other evidence of the progressiveness and dependableness 
of Philadelphia institutions. 

Safe deposit vaults were another form of protection 
originated in Philadelphia. Before the Civil War there 
were few coupon bonds but afterwards their multiplication 
and bulk caused the Fidelity Safe Deposit, Title and Tmst 
Company in 1866 to provide a place for their safe keeping 
as well as household valuables. 



THE OLDEST BUSINESS HOUSE 




^ N a place where respect for old insti- 
tutions, historical records and an old 
family name is so solemnly held as 
Philadelphia one might expect ex- 
travagant claims for antiquity did 
one not know of the Quaker candour 
and general reputation for abusing 
themselves which the citizens have. To harbour the oldest 
business concern in America is, however, no mean achieve- 
ment and merits some account of The Francis Perot's 
Sons ]Malting Company, which is older than the Bank of 
England and has descended from father to son for eight 
generations. 

The founder of this business was Anthony Morris, 
who was born in London in 1654 and after a sojourn in 
Burlington, New Jersey, came down the river to Philadel- 
phia in 1686 and within a year was settled on the east 
side of Front Street, below Walnut, where he erected a 
malt house and brewery facing the Delaware River. This 
establishment is shown on Peter Cooper's painting of " The 
Southeast Prospect of the City of Philadelphia " in the 
vestibule of the Philadelphia Library. ]Morris' brewery 
was the second in the neighbourhood, William Frampton 
having preceded him. Indeed the occupation was a fre- 
quent and profitable one among the industrious Friends 
and their " bitters " had a better name for purity and whole- 
somcness and sold for more than English beer. 

A curious connection which the churches had with 
drinkables began when the Baptists sought refuge from 
the Presbyterians in 1698 and worshipped in ^lorris' brew- 
house until 1707. In 1808 the Insurance Company of 
North America had a policy on the over stock of brandy 

268 



THE OLDEST BUSINESS HOUSE 



and sugar from Stephen Girard's warehouse on Water 
Street, which was stored in the cellar of the German 
Catholic Church, of which he was a member, at Sixth and 
Spruce Streets. Not so very long ago the cellar of the 
commodious meeting house of the Society of Friends at 
Fourth and Green Streets was filled with Perot's ale 
from which the thrifty meeting received a sufficient revenue, 
we may be sure, as well as a convenient source of supply 
for the refreshment of the Hicksite Yearly Meeting held 
there until the late fifties. 

Anthony Morris took his son of like name into partner- 
ship with him and upon his death in 1721 left the business 
to him. The son had been indentured for seven years at 
the age of fourteen to learn the business in 1695 and must 
have been well qualified to continue its successful career. 
He was both Councilman and Assemblyman and built 
another malt-house and brewery in the rear of a lot on 
Second Street between Arch and Race Streets. 

Next came a son, another Anthony, who built a large 
establishment at the corner of Dock and Pear Streets in 
1745, where there were several springs which Timothy 
Matlack says made the beer surpass any in the City. His 
sons, Anthony and Thomas, kept on at their grandfather's 
place on Second near Arch Streets until Anthony was 
killed at the Battle of Trenton, on July 3, 1777. A 
brother, " Captain Sam," then joined Thomas, but from 
all we know of his busy life as Captain of the First Troop, 
Governor of the " State in Schuylkill," fox-hunter and 
useful citizen, he did not give much time to his brewery and 
after two years withdrew from the partnership. Thomas 
Morris' sons, Thomas and Joseph, continued the line. 
Their father was a founder of Westtown Friends' Board- 
ing School and a manager of the Pennsylvania Hospital 

269 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



and Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of 
Houses from Loss by Fire. Joseph Morris left his part 
to his brother Thomas upon his death, and the business 
went on without interruption in North Second Street. 
Now the Perots entered into the hitherto unbroken line of 
Morrises through the marriage of Francis Perot to Eliza- 
beth Morris, daughter of Thomas. 

Elliston and John Perot settled in the West India 
trade on North Water Street, next door to Stephen 
Girard, in 1785. They came of French Huguenot stock, 
from the only surv^ivor of nineteen condemned men who 
were placed in separate cells and the doors walled up for 
twenty-one days without food or water. In the case of 
James Perot a hen had a nest in a dark corner of his cell 
and came daily through a small hole and laid an egg 
which nourished him until his time was up. 

Francis was the son of Elliston Perot and was appren- 
ticed to Thomas ]Morris for six years to learn to be a 
brewer. In addition to liis work he had to pay his em- 
ployer a fee of one thousand dollars for the privilege. It 
is needless to say that there were no labour unions or child- 
labour laws in those days. Francis had to carry ninety 
bushels of malt daily on his back to the third floor, where 
it was ground, and then carry it one stoiy higher. Three 
mornings a week he had to get up at one o'clock to brew. 
After his apprenticeship he began business at Downing- 
town and in 1818 purchased the brewery and malt-house 
on the south side of Vine Street between Third and Fom*th. 
After his marriage to Elizabeth ]M orris he frequently went 
to her father's place on Second Street to brew for him 
and finally he succeeded to the business. His cream beer 
and table beer was known far and wide. 

Francis Perot erected one of the first stationary steam 

270 



THE OLDEST BUSINESS HOUSE 



engines in America at his brewery on Vine Street. It was 
in constant operation for over fifty years and still leads an 
honourable existence as an historic relic. 

T. Morris Perot, son of Francis and Elizabeth, gradu- 
ated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1849 
and began a wholesale drug business. After a disastrous 
fire he and his partner, Edward H. Ogden went into part- 
nership with his father at 310 Vine Street under the firm 
name of Francis Perot's Sons, Maltsters. Two new malt- 
houses were soon started and in 1882 their business had 
increased to such an extent that they bought a malt-house 
at Oswego, New York, to be nearer the Canadian barley 
fields. The firm name became the Francis Perot's Sons 
Malting Company in 1887 and continues so to-day under 
the care of Elliston Perot and T. Morris Perot, Jr. T. 
Morris Perot was a public-spirited man and for forty years 
was the president of the Mercantile Library Company, at 
one time the largest library in the United States. He was 
also for over thirty years president of the Woman's ^ledi- 
cal College of Pennsylvania, the first woman's medical 
college in America. His partner, Edward H. Ogden, 
was also a graduate of the College of Pharmacy and was 
interested in the upbuilding of Swarthmore College. 

The business has grown beyond the dreams of its 
founders and the old buildings have long been abandoned 
for lack of capacity to handle it. Although the malt-house 
is now at BufFalo, New York, the office of the company 
remains in the old city which saw its foundation. 



THE FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY 




f LTHOUGH Benjamin Franklin was 
fond of calling himself merely a 
" printer " to his dying day, it is not 
so generally known that his printing 
business is flourishing among us still. 
Founded in 1728, it has continued 
^ without a break and still bears the 
name of its originator. It hardly seems necessary to relate 
the story of Franklin and his trade which has been so often 
repeated. 

In 1740 Franklin relinquished his active interest and 
David Hall, for four years in his employ, was made the 
active partner under the firm name of Franklin and Hall, 
Hall agreeing to pay Franklin £1000 for 18 years, 
which was equivalent to $2660 a year. David Hall was 
reared as a printer in Edinburgh and entered Franklin's 
employ in 1744. He was an industrious workman and a 
benevolent and worthy man. He conducted the " Gazette" 
prudently, gained it a wide circulation, and made the print- 
ing business very lucrative. In INIay of 1766 William 
Sellers entered the firm. He was a printer from London 
who had a book and stationerj^ store in Arch Street between 
Second and Third and was a well-known and respected citi- 
zen. Upon Hall's death in 1772 his two sons, William 
and David, Jr., succeeded him and the name of Hall and 
Sellers was continued at 51 High Street (now 135 IVIarket 
Street), where years before Franklin and INIeredith had 
joined forces. Toward the end of the eighteenth century 
there were 31 printing presses in the City and suburbs, 
printing four daily and two semi-weekly papers, one of 
them in the French language, and two weekly journals, one 
of them in the German language. But Hall and Sellers, 
with their solid foundation, more than held their own. 

272 



THE FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY 

About 1810 the name became Hall and Pierie, William 
Sellers having died in 1804 and George W. Pierie having 
been taken in. At this time there were 153 presses in the 
City and 60 engravers. 

About 1815 Pierie dropped out and Samuel C. Atkin- 
son took his place, so that the firm name became Hall and 
Atkinson until 1821, when Hall died and Charles Alex- 
ander entered the firm. This marked an epoch in American 
journalism for Atkinson and Alexander determined to 
build with new vigour on the venerable foundation of the 
" Pennsylvania Gazette " and began the publication of a 
new weekly paper to which they gave the name of the 
" Saturday Evening Post." The first number was issued 
August 4, 1821. The paper had a " Poet's Corner," a 
story column and printed some news, foreign and domes- 
tic, but eschewed all politics. The editor was Thomas 
Cottrell Clarke and under his leadership the paper gained 
a wide circulation throughout the United States. In 1827, 
after 90 years in one locality, the plant was moved to 112 
Chestnut Street, between Second and Third. 

In 1828 Samuel C. Atkinson became the sole proprietor 
and in 1833 moved to 36 Carter's Alley, where he remained 
•until 1840. Then John S. Du SoUe and George R. 
Graham bought the business and moved it to Third and 
Chestnut Streets in the second floor of the old " Ledger " 
Building. Charles J. Peterson soon succeeded Du Solle 
and the firm continued as George R. Graham and Co. until 
1843 when all was sold to Samuel D. Patterson & Co. 
Only five years elapsed before Edmund Deacon and Henry 
Peterson became proprietors and put new life into the 
publishing and printing of the old firm. The plant was 
moved to 66 South Third Street, adjoining the Girard 
Bank, where Deacon managed the business and Peterson 

18 273 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



edited the "Saturday Evening Post." 100,000 copies of the 
paper were distributed every week, many of them going 
into the Southern States. The policy of eschewing all 
politics had proved a profitable one but Henry Peterson 
burned with the fever of abolition and the temptation to 
use the powerful instrument in his hands proved too strong 
to resist. Breaking away from the settled policy of the past 
he published a violent anti-slavery article and the result 
was effective and instantaneous. The papers came back 
in basketfuls from indignant subscribers and the doom of 
the " Post " for many years was sounded. Its publication 
was, however, actually continued and after passing through 
other hands it was bought by the Cm'tis Publishing Com- 
pany in 1898. 

In the early seventies Henry Peterson retired and after 
Edmund Deacon's death in 1877 E. Stanley Hart suc- 
ceeded to the business as the Franklin Printing House 
and in 1889 the present Franklin Printing Company was 
incorporated with a large building and modern plant at 
514 Ludlow Street. 

Franklin's old press is still in the possession of the com- 
pany, although its appearance has changed. Some years 
ago it was borrowed for an exhibition and while there the 
precious old finger-marks and scars of its unpainted wood- 
work, many of them left there by its illustrious first owner, 
were covered over by a nice fresh coat of green paint so 
that it should look clean and tidy. The horror and indig- 
nation of the present owners upon its return can better be 
imagined than described. 



SHIPS AND SHIPPING 




f WALK along Philadelphia's river- 
front to-day will not greatly impress 
one with the extent of its shipping 
and there is always rather a despair- 
ing note, tinged with anger, in its 
mention by the public press. In the 
^ building of ships, however, an alto- 
gether different note is struck and the Delaware is now 
oftener than ever called the " Clyde of America." 

Gabriel Thomas tells us in 1697 of the large and com- 
modious wharves and of Robert Turner's ship-yard. The 
ship-yards in Colonial times occupied the river front from 
High to Callowhill Streets. Bartholomew Penrose had a 
ship-yard on the river at the foot of High or JNIarket Street 
in which William Penn and Robert Trent were partners. 
Prior to 1725 twenty vessels might be seen on the stocks 
at one time and the clearances were numerous for that day. 
The City had by the middle of the century many wealthy 
merchants engaged in foreign trade and in 1771 the ton- 
nage was 50,000 entered and cleared. At the time of the 
Revolution Philadelphia was the first city in naval archi- 
tecture. Among characteristic enterprises were huge rafts 
built for the shipment of a great quantity of timber. The 
" Baron Renfrew " of upward of 5000 tons, made a safe 
passage to England with such a cargo. The adjacent iron 
works on the Schuylkill aided much in the building of ships 
and these superior advantages caused many of the naval 
vessels constructed for the defense of the Colonies to be 
built here. The flourishing commerce of the port was swept 
away by the war but revived after peace was declared. In 
1793 the tonnage built in Philadelphia doubled that at 
any other port in the United States, and the exports ex- 

275 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



ceeded those of New England and Xew York, and indeed 
were one-fourth of the whole Union. Thomas Godfrey 
invented the quadrant and Franklin made many improve- 
ments in the models of sailing vessels, among them the 
water-tight compartments now deemed essential. 

JNIichael Roy 11 had a yard at the Drawbridge over 
Dock Creek, Charles West owned extensive yards at Vine 
Street, Parrock at Race Street and so on. The bowsprits 
of the ships extended across Front Street to the eaves of 
West's house, indeed many still living can remember a 
similar scene on Delaware Avenue. Carved figure-heads 
were very popular in the early days of shipping and the 
work of William Rush excited wide admiration at home 
and abroad. 

The first ships for the American Navy were built by 
Joshua Humphreys in Southwark below Old Swede's 
Church. Later the United States established a yard at 
Front and Federal Streets, where were built the United 
States and the Constitution, equal to anything afloat at 
that time. The Pennsylvania was launched here in 
1837 in the presence of 100,000 people and a multitude of 
ships in the river. She was entirely of wood and the largest 
in the world, her masts being 250 feet high. From the 
jib-boom to the end of the spanker-boom was 375 feet and 
the main yard was 120 feet in length. She had tlu'ee gun 
decks and 140 guns. 

Thomas P. Cope was the greatest ship-owTier, and most 
of his ships were built in Philadelphia. He established in 
1821 the first regular line of packet-ships between the City 
and Liverpool. The names of Vaughan and of Eyre are 
the most prominent among the early ship-builders of Ken- 
sington, but of course there is none more widely famous 
than that of Cramp, who began building ships in 1830 after 

276 




BUILDING THE FRIGATE "PHILADELPHIA" AT HUMPHREY'S YARD 
IN SOUTHWARK 




Bircli, 1800 

VIEW OF THE CIT¥ FROM THE TREATY ELM AT SHACKAMAXON STREET 




FOOT OF MARKET STREKT 




llin li, I.--IH1 

ARCH STRKKT WHARF; THK FIRST .STERX-WHEEL STEAMBOAT RAN FROM HERE 



SHIPS AND SHIPPING 



an apprenticeship with Samuel Grice, the most celebrated 
ship-builder of the period. 

John Fitch, a watch and clock-maker in Philadelphia, 
ran the first steam boat on the Delaware in 1788, after a 
design he made in 1785. Paddles, working within a frame- 
work, propelled the little boat to Burlington, New Jersey, 
and afterward to Trenton, returning the same day and 
moving at the rate of eight miles an hour. His first excur- 
sion indeed was on the 1st of May, 1787, but he was ahead 
of his time and it was left for Fulton to perfect the design 
and secure the glory. Much help in Fitch's design came, 
no doubt, from Oliver Evans, a blacksmith of Philadelphia, 
who proclaimed in 1781 that he could drive wagons and 
mills by steam. He prophesied that the time would come 
when people would travel by steam wagons moving at the 
rate of twenty miles an hour and that railways would be 
laid on paths of broken stone to travel by night as well 
as by day and that boats will be propelled by steam. 
Friends were too conservative and careful in those days 
to take up the visionary schemes of these young men, ideas 
destined to revolutionize travel in the years to come, and 
so the necessary capital to promote their plans was not 
to be had in the Quaker City. 

A story characteristic of the temperament and training 
of early Quakers is told of Captain Whitall whose ship lay 
in foreign waters frequented by pirates. Spying a hard- 
looking fellow coming up a rope over the side one night 
the worthy Friend taking a knife remarked, " Friend, if 
thee wants that rope thee may have it " — and cut the rope. 



THE DANCING ASSEMBLY 




N every community people of similar 
interests and of blood relationship 
are drawn together for pleasant inter- 
com'se and as these natural conditions 
are emphasized by refinement, their 
association becomes more rigid and 
exclusive. Perhaps there is no com- 
munity where this has been more continuously the prac- 
tice than in Philadelphia and the most widely known and 
principal indication is the Assembly Ball or City Dancing 
Assembly as it was first called. 

In 1738 there existed a dancing class conducted by 
Theobald Hackett, who taught " all sorts of fashionable 
English and French dances, after the newest and politest 
manner practised in London, Dublin and Paris, and to give 
young ladies, gentlemen and children the most graceful 
carriage in dancing and genteel behaviour in company that 
can possibly be given by any dancing master whatever." 
Later, Kennet taught dancing and fencing, also John 
Ormsby from London " in the newest taste now practised 
in Europe, at ]Mr. Foster's house in Market Street oppo- 
site the Horse & Dray." 

Naturally the Quakers looked askance at this frivolity 
and Samuel Foulke published an indignant article about 
Kennet's notice, saying, " I am surprised at his audacity 
and brazen impudence in giving those detestable vices those 
high encomiums. They be proved so far from accomplish- 
ments that they are diabolical." This was commendable 
vigour at any rate and in the first assembly lists we find no 
Pembertons, Logans, Fishers, Lloyds, Whartons, Coxes, 
Rawles, Morrises, Peningtons, Emlens, or Biddies. 

The clergy approved, however, and surely religion 

278 



THE DANCING ASSEMBLY 



should direct its youthful spirits in their happiness. So 
the dancing assembly began in 1748 and was held once 
a fortnight at Andrew Hamilton's house and store, ten- 
anted by Mr. Inglis, who conducted the balls. This was 
the only place capable of accommodating so many persons 
and was at Hamilton's Wharf on Water Street near the 
Drawbridge between Walnut and Dock Streets, where 
ladies repaired in full dress on horseback. The first man- 
agers were John Swift, John Wallace, John Inglis and 
Lynford Lardner. The subscription was forty shillings, 
levied upon the gentlemen, and included the lady who 
accompanied him. Tickets for strangers on the same con- 
ditions were to be had upon application to the managers 
at seven shillings, sixpence. These included all the ex- 
penses for the entertainment, which soon was held every 
Thursday evening from January until May, commencing 
at six o'clock in the evening and not exceeding midnight. 
Notices were published in the newspapers of which this, 
from the " Pennsylvania Journal," in 1771, is an example: 

" The Assembly will be opened this evening, and as the re- 
ceiving of money at the door has been found extremely inconveni- 
ent, the Managers think it necessary to give the public notice that 
no person will be admitted without a ticket from the directors 
which (through the application of a subscriber) may be had of 
either of the Managers." 

In 1772 the meeting place was the Freemasons' Lodge 
and later the City Tavern, then Oeller's Hotel, on Chestnut 
above Sixth Street, the Mansion House on Third Street, 
at Washington Hall on the same street and at a hall on 
Library Street. In 1802 Francis' Hotel on ^Market 
Street was chosen. Rooms were provided for cards 
with fire, candles, tables and cards. Square dances 

279 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



were in vogue and the ladies arriving first were given 
places in the first set, the rest being arranged in the order 
of arrival, the ladies drawing for places. ^Mothers watched 
with care the movements of their daughters from an en- 
closure at one end of the room, says a writer in 1817, but 
no such assemblage of matrons is mentioned in earlier 
times. 

Rev. Andrew Burnaby, who visited Philadelphia 
between 1759 and 1760, was very favourably impressed 
with our belles. Here is his comment : 

" The women are exceedingly handsome and polite. They are 
naturally sprightly and fond of pleasure, and upon the whole, are 
much more agreeable and accomplished than the men. Since their 
intercourse with the English officers they are greatly improved 
and without flattery many of them would not make bad figures even 
in the first assemblies of Europe. Their amusements are princi- 
pally dancing in the winter, and in the summer forming parties 
of pleasure upon the Schuylkill and in the country. There is a 
society of sixteen ladies and as many gentlemen, called the Fishing 
Company, who meet once in a fortnight upon the Schuylkill. They 
have a very pleasant room erected in a romantic situation on the 
banks of that river, where they generally dine and drink tea. 
There are several pretty walks around it, and some wild and 
rugged rocks, which, together with the water and fine groves that 
adorn the banks, form a most beautiful and picturesque scene. 
There are boats and fishing-tackle of all sorts, and the company 
divert themselves with walking, fishing, going upon the water, 
dancing, singing, or conversing, just as they please. The ladies 
wear a uniform, and they appear with great ease and advantage 
from the neatness and simplicity of it. The first and most dis- 
tinguished people of the colony are of this society and it is very 
advantageous to a stranger to be introduced to it, as he thereby 
gets acquainted with the best and most respectable company in 
Philadelphia. In winter, when there is snow on the ground, it is 
usual to make what they call sleighing-parties, or to go upon it 
in sledges." 

280 



THE DANCING ASSEMBLY 



The rules were quite strict and one at least of the 
spirited belles revolted in 1782 by " standing up in a set 
not her own," and drawing the others of the set into re- 
bellion, thus bringing on a rupture between the gentlemen 
and the managers. The sprightly William Black (of the 
Virginia Commission to treat with the Indians in 1744) 
praises the beauty and accomplishments of Miss Hetty 
Levy and Miss Mollie Stamper, afterwards Mrs. William 
Bingham. Miss Rebecca Franks was the reigning belle 
during the British occupation particularly, sharing the 
honours with fair Willings, Shippens and Chews. Joseph 
Shippen's " Lines written in an Assembly Room " was 
one of the frequent graceful poetical outbursts of the time. 
He speaks of " Fair charming Swift," referring to the 
eldest daughter of John Swift, afterwards Mrs. Livings- 
ton, " lovely White," the sister of Bisby White and after- 
wards Mrs. Robert Morris, and " Sweet, Smiling, fair 
M'Call;" Polly Franks and Sally Coxe also came in for 
their share of admiration and Mrs. Jekyll, granddaughter 
of Edward Shippen. 

By 1765 some Quaker names appear, such as Mifflin, 
Fishbourne, Dickinson, Galloway, Nixon, Powell and 
Cadwalader, and soon some arrivals from distant parts, 
such as Ingersolls, Montgomerys, Sergeants, Tilghmans, 
Wisters and Markoes. Then more familiar families of 
Clymer, Hazlehurst, Evans, Burd, Lewis, IMcMurtrie, 
McPherson, Sims, Ross, Watmough, Biddle, Wharton 
and Meade. Dancing masters became numerous and the 
youth of the town with affluent merchant fathers took with 
avidity to the increase in polite amusements so different 
from the scanty entertainment of the early days. 

The Assemblies were discontinued during the Revolu- 
tion, although there was an increase in gayety, especially 

281 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



in Tory circles, during the British occupation. The pa- 
triots, however, were engaged in a serious business and 
their resources as well as their lives were risked in the great 
adventure of their country. After the war aristocratic 
feelings were somewhat rudely jarred, although intensified 
in some quarters. When Squire Hillegas' daughter was 
married to a jeweler she was deprived of her place in the 
old Assembly and indeed another Assembly, not so fastidi- 
ous, was formed, which sent an invitation to President 
Washington. When both balls came on the same night 
the President went to the newer and danced with a 
mechanic's pretty daughter. Mrs. John Adams writes 
frequently of the Assemblies during President Washing- 
ton's administration and says " the company is of the 
best kind," and the ladies more beautiful than she had seen 
at foreign courts. ]\Irs. Bingham is mentioned, her aunt, 
Mrs. Samuel Powell, born Elizabeth Willing, a younger 
set of Chews, the Redmans, Bonds, jNIiss Wilhelmina 
Smith, Miss Sally INIcKean, JMrs. Walter Stewart, and 
Mrs. Henry Clymer. JMrs. Adams speaks of the gayety 
and prodigality of Pliiladelphia living in the same vein 
as General Greene who called the luxury of Boston *' an 
infant babe " to that of the Quaker City. 

In 1803 the first ball was held in JNIr. Haines' room 
in the new Shakespeare Building, at Sixth and Chestnut 
Streets, and afterwards at Francis' Hotel, occupying the 
Morris and Wasliington mansion on Market between Fifth 
and Sixth Streets. Lack of harmony prevailed in this 
year and a new Assembly was organized and balls held 
over Barry's furniture store in Second Street. Subse- 
quently balls were held at the Exchange Coffee House, 
formerly Mr. Bingham's house, on South Third Street, 
and in the City Hotel at ]\Ir. INIcCall's old house, Second 

282 



THE DANCING ASSEMBLY 



and Union Streets. Squabbling and loss of social prestige 
continued to such an extent that in 1815 the balls were 
discontinued. There is little wonder if the following 
effusion, which appeared in the " Fashionable Trifler," is 
correct : 

" The principal supporters of our City practicing balls are a 
strange medley of capering youths, who, the moment they are 
released from the finger drudgery of pen, ink, and paper, repair to 
the Assembly, where they contrive to kill an evening in the pleasing 
avocations of dancing and quarreling, occasionally interspersed 
with the delightful auxiliaries of smoking and drinking. When 
the promiscuous variety are met, they employ a portion of their 
time in quarreling for places in a set for a cotillon or country 
dance, and are famous for a peculiar dialect, for spitfire aggrava- 
tions, provoking phrases, quaint oaths, and thundering mouth 
grenades. Should the heat of the weather require more air than 
exercise they retire to a witt drawing-room, where they stupefy 
their senses by the narcotic fumes of the cigar, dry their skins 
to parchment, bake their entrails to cinders, and exhaust all their 
radical moisture; so that when they return to their partners the 
room is perfumed like the interior of a warehouse on James River. 
Some exercise other extravagances — qualify their lemonade with 
the tincture of pure cognac, of which their fair partners sip a 
drop or two to prevent danger from excessive heat, and which 
these foplings drench in quantities, so that in the conclusion they 
become as noisy and quarrelsome as apes." 

Only two years elapsed, however, before some gentle- 
men met at Renshaw's Hotel and resolved " that in the 
City of Philadelphia, the residence of so much elegance, 
and the resort of so much gayety, there ought to be Dancing 
Assemblies." Accordingly, subscription books were or- 
dered to be opened, but in the meantime a notice was 
published that a Cotillon Party had been formed which 
postponed the revival of the City Dancing Assembly 
until 1819. 

283 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



As early as 1792 money was subscribed for a perma- 
nent home and the trustees of the fund actually bought 
a lot of land. No building was erected, although the 
project seems to have been kept alive as late as 1824. In 
1839 a handsome Bachelor's Ball was given in the hall of 
the Franklin Institute, on Chestnut Street, and in 1849 
we find the first record of the Assembly Balls at Musical 
Fund Hall, on Locust Street at Eighth, where they con- 
tinued to be given with some interruptions until 1865, 
when the Academy of Music became their home. In 1904 
the size of the ball demanded enlarged quarters and it was 
moved to the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, in Broad Street 
at Walnut. The Balls are managed by a group of gentle- 
men who have sometimes been chosen by the subscribers 
and sometimes by other managers. 



THE CITY TROOP 




F Philadelpliia's many ancient institu- 
tions perhaps none is more widely 
known than the organization popu- 
|larly called " The City Troop," that 
long sustained gleam of brilliancy 
which came into our peaceful Quaker 
drab so long ago as 1774. The call 
which these spirited young gentlemen heeded, have always 
heeded, was that of their country, but they have never 
traded upon patriotism or record for public favour nor 
forsaken the old Philadelphia characteristic of modesty 
and reserve. 

At the outbreak of trouble with England there were 
a number of important organizations for sport and social 
intercourse among Philadelphians of quality. The oldest 
was the " Colony in Schuylkill " and there were also the 
" Schuylkill Company of Fort St. David's," " The St. 
Andrew's Society of Philadelphia," " The Society of the 
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick," " The Society of the Sons 
of St. George " and the " Gloucester Fox Hunting Club." 
It was from these happy groups that the troop of light 
horse was almost entirely recruited, especially from the 
first and last named. On the evening of Thursday, 
November 17, 1774, while the Continental Congress was 
sitting in the Hall of the Carpenter's Company, twenty- 
eight gentlemen met there and associated themselves as the 
Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia, the first organi- 
zation of volunteers formed to maintain the rights of the 
people against the oppression of the British Government. 
Their names were: 

Abraham Markoe Henry Hill 

Andrew Allen John Boyle 

285 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Samuel Morris William Tod 

James Mease John Mitchell 

Thomas Leiper George Campbell 

William Hall Samuel Caldwell 

Samuel Penrose Andrew Caldwell 

Samuel Howell, Jr. Le\a Hollingsworth 

James Hunter Blair McClenachan 

James Budden George Groff 

John Dunlap Benjamin Randolph 

John Mease Thomas Peters 

Robert Hare George Fullerton 

William Pollard William West, Jr. 

The officers chosen were : 

Abraham Markoe. . ..... .Captain 

Andrew Allen First Lieutenant 

Samuel Morris Second Lieutenant and Adjutant 

James Mease Cornet 

Thomas Leiper First Sergeant 

William Hall Second Sergeant 

Samuel Penrose Quartermaster 

William Pollard First Corporal 

James Hunter Second Corporal 

The members agreed to equip and support themselves 
at their own expense and to offer their services to the Con- 
tinental Congress. The uniform adopted was a dark 
brown short coat, faced and lined with white, wliite vest 
and breeches, high-topped boots, romid black hat, bound 
with silver cord, a buck's tail ; housings brown, edged with 
white and the letters L. H. worked on them. Arms, a 
carbine, a pair of pistols and holsters, with flounces of 
brown cloth trimmed with white, a horseman's sword, white 
belt for the sword and carbine. 

Several times a week during winter and spring they 
met in earnest preparation for active duty, under the 
instruction of Mr. Moffit as sword-master and horse trainer. 

286 



THE CITY TROOP 



Captain Markoe presented the cherished standard to the 
Troop in the spring and it is remarkable as being the 
first flag to bear the thirteen stripes, symboHzing the 
thirteen colonies now joined in a common need. This 
flag is of yellow with the thirteen stripes in the upper left- 
hand corner alternately blue and silver. 

By this time the Troop was drilling every day, to say 
nothing of an occasional dinner. One of these at the 
Buck Tavern on May 20, 1775, ofl'ered to some twenty 
gentlemen a " dressed turtle, 7>^ hot. Madeira, 16 hot. 
Claret, 10 hot. Porter, 6 hot. Beer and 16 bowls Punch." 
The Troop was assigned to the " Associators " commanded 
by Colonel John Cadwalader and paraded on June 8, 1775, 
on the Commons before the Continental Congress and 
again on June 20th, when it was reviewed by General 
Washington, Commander-in-Chief of all the North Amer- 
ican forces. When the General set out on June 23rd to 
take command of the Army at Cambridge he was escorted 
by the Troop as far as Kingsbridge, New York, two of liis 
equipment of five horses being furnished by Cornet James 
Mease. The last was the beginning of a long list of indi- 
vidual services rendered by members of the Troop which 
distinguish its records down to modern times. Not satisfied 
with active service in a small unit, the members have given 
widely of their capacity as opportunity ofl'ered. When in 
November " Lady " Washington was on her way to join 
her distinguished husband the Troop escorted her into and 
out of the City. 

In the early part of 1776 Samuel Morris became Cap- 
tain and led the Troop in the review of May 27th, before 
Generals Washington, Gates and Mifflin, the Congress, 
members of the Assembly and " a vast concourse of 
people." Details of the Troop now began to perform im- 

287 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



portant duties such as bearing despatches, escorting pris- 
oners and conveying money to the several camps of the 
army, always returning with letters of appreciation and 
commendation from the General in command. These ex- 
peditions were fraught with more danger than appears in 
their recital, both from natural and military difficulties, 
very long journeys being made in a wild country. The 
whole Troop reported to Washington at Trenton on De- 
cember 2, 1776, and under his immediate direction covered 
the rear of the retreating army and established headquar- 
ters at Newtown. On the eventful Christmas night when 
Colonel Rahl's Hessians were surprised and taken, the 
Troop had an active part and acted as Washington's escort. 
The character and ability of the men seem to have im- 
pressed the American Commanders for they were con- 
stantly using small details on imjjortant duties rather than 
fighting the Troop as a whole. At Princeton Captain 
JNIorris' men performed valiant service and after the army 
had encamped at IMorristown for the winter was relieved 
from duty as a unit, the Commander-in-Chief tendering 
the individual members Commissions in the Ai'my as a 
reward for their gallantry and sending Captain ^Morris the 
prized letter complimenting the command " composed of 
Gentlemen of Fortune " for their " noble Example of 
discipline and subordination " which he says " will ever do 
Honour to them and will ever be gratefully remembered 
by me." 

In the late summer of 1777 " an Officer and Six Gentle- 
men of the Philadelphia Light Horse " were directed by 
the Board of War to escort Benjamin Chew and John 
Penn, Esq'rs, as prisoners to Fredericksburg, Virginia. 
This was no doubt a pleasant outing but must have been 
rather an impleasant duty. When Washington led his 

288 



THE CITY TROOP 



forlorn army through the City to destroy Howe's prospect 
of a winter in Philadelphia, the Troop, as usual, escorted 
him, and Captain Morris, with a few others, kept the field 
to the end of October, serving with General Armstrong 
at the Battle of Germantown. The men of tlie Troop 
" who enjoy in a pecuHar degree the gifts of fortune and 
of a cultivated understanding " being of " Property and 
Spirit " were on the alert for service and were constantly 
employed during the following winter and spring as aides 
and express riders. One is struck with the independence 
with which the command and its individual members acted. 
All through the early records this feature is prominent. 
The Troop would serve for a particular campaign or emer- 
gency or for escort to some distinguished personage and 
then disband until the next occasion arose. One of the most 
notable civil duties which called the Troop into service 
was the defense of James Wilson, signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, who was besieged in his house by a mob 
on the night of October 4, 1779, on account of his acting 
as legal adviser for some Tories who had been indicted for 
treason. After some violence the Troop came on the 
scene and amid cries of '' The Horse, the Horse," the mob 
dispersed not, however, without injury. A similar attack 
the next night upon Private David Lenox at " Grumble- 
thorpe," Main Street and Indian Queen Lane, German- 
town, was forestalled by his niece walking to the City and 
bringing the Troop to the rescue. 

In the attempt of Robert Morris to save the national 
credit by establishing the Pennsylvania Bank in 1789 
twenty-eight of the Troop joined and subscribed more 
than one-fourth of the total capital of the bank. After 
the surrender at Yorktown the captured British and Ger- 
man colours were brought to Philadelphia and paraded 

19 289 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



through the streets, escorted by the Troop and a full band 
of music. On this occasion 72 active members and 11 of 
the original members turned out. At the close of the war 
there were eighty-eight names upon the roll. 

It would be but continued repetition to recite the many 
important occasions when the Troop has acted as escort 
for the President of the United States, Foreign Ambassa- 
dors and distinguished persons from at home and abroad. 
Samuel Morris resigned as Captain in 1786 and Samuel 
Miles was chosen in his place to be followed in 1790 by 
Christian Febiger, and by John Dunlap in 1793. Under 
the last three the Troop was frequently near Washington 
while he was President, acting as his escort on all public 
occasions. 

The year 1794 marked an important event in the 
Troop's history. Their uniform was changed. The brown 
coat became blue faced with red and with white edging. 
The horse was to have a white saddle cloth with blue edging 
and a blue and white headpiece. An undress uniform was 
added consisting of a blue short j acket, red collar and cuffs, 
and mixed gray overalls. The change was just in time 
to be shown in the Whiskey Insurrection, which, it should 
very briefly be explained, was an uprising of certain of the 
inhabitants of the counties lying west of the Alleghany 
Mountains in Pennsylvania, in oppositon to the recently 
enacted Excise Law of the United States, imposing duties 
on domestic distilled liquors. The Troop by resolution at 
the City Tavern volunteered their services and were sent 
to the upper end of Washington County where they took 
Colonel Crawford and his son, Mr. Sedgwick, a justice 
of the peace, and Mr. Corbly, a clergyman of the Baptist 
persuasion, " with the greatest dexterity." This was the 
beginning of service in many civil outbreaks in which the 

290 



THE CITY TROOP 



Troop was ever prompt to render what service it could 
to the State and Nation. The Troop unselfishly donated 
their entire pay for services in the Revolution to the Penn- 
sylvania Hospital, for the foundation of a maternity ward. 
Robert Wharton was elected Captain in 1808 and in 
1809 another change was made in the uniform. 

" Instead of a Coatee, a round Jacket of dark blue Cloth with a 
small skirt, ornamented Avith silver Cord. The Facings, Cuffs and 
Collars to be of scarlet Cloth or Cassimere, each facing at the 
bottom to be about 4 inches broad and increase gradually to the 
Chest. Two rows of Buttons on the Breast facing, twelve on each 
side, with silver Cord to meet in the middle of the breast, and to 
reach from Button to Button across the Chest, the Jacket to 
reach the Hip bones. Two Buttons with Silver Cord on each 
side of the Collar, and three Buttons with silver cord on each 
sleeve. The Jacket to be lined with White and edged with it." 

In this year also the long room at the Shakespeare 
Hotel was hired at $3.00 per evening for dismounted drill 
during the winter, no refreshments " other than Beer, 
Spirits, Brandy and Segars " to be charged to the fund 
for defraying expenses of drill. 

The trouble with Great Britain caused the formation of 
a cavalry regiment of which the Troop was a part and 
Captain Wharton the Colonel. Charles Ross was elected 
Captain and the Troop exercised several times a month, 
being also " present at all inspections, reviews and pa- 
rades," until the taking of the City of Washington in 
1814, when it was called into the field and sent toward 
Baltimore on vidette duty. Former Captain Wharton, 
who had become a Brigadier General in 1812, was serving 
again as a private in the Troop and while taking his turn 
as a company cook on this expedition was called to be 
Mayor of Philadelphia. The Troop returned in December 
and celebrated their discharge with a dinner at the Wash- 

291 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



ington Hotel which cost $300 for " Dinner, Dessert, ]Ma- 
deira, Claret, Punch, Segars, Ale, Porter, Cyder, Brandy, 
etc., and a further sum for some broken Decanters, Wines 
and Tumblers." 

Captain Ross died in 1817 and First Lieutenant John 
R. C. Smith became Commander. He led the Troop in the 
welcome accorded General Lafayette on his second visit to 
the United States in 1824. The next year Captain Smith 
was deprived of his commission by Court jNIartial for dis- 
ol3edience of orders and First Lieutenant Lynford Lard- 
ner was elected in his place, to be followed in 1827 by 
William H. Hart. John Butler was made Captain in 
1842 and died in service as Captain of the Third United 
States Dragoons at Mier, INIexico, in 1847. Thomas C. 
James succeeded him and led the Troop on IVIay 30, 1861, 
when it entered the conflict between the States as a part 
of the Second United States Cavalry, George H. Thomas 
commanding. After active service it was mustered out in 
August but many of the members returned to the Army 
and served with distinction as officers on the Northern 
side. The remainder went out when Lee's army marched 
into Pennsylvania and with some recniits saw active ser- 
vice until July 31, 1863, under the command of Cornet 
Samuel J. Randall. Cornet Randall was chosen tempor- 
ary Captain in July, 1864, and so sensed while the Troop 
attended the body of President Lincoln during its stay in 
Philadelphia. 

After the war there was no immediate election of 
officers, since so many members had held commissions in 
the active service of the Nation as to make a choice embar- 
rassing, but in 1866 Fairman Rogers was made Captain, 
to be followed in 1869 by INIr. Edward Rogers. In 1877 
A. Loudon Snowden was elected Captain and commanded 

292 



THE CITY TROOP 



in the Pittsburgh railway riots of that year. The next 
year Private Edward Burd Grubb, a Brigadier General of 
the Civil War, was chosen and served until 1889, when 
Joseph Lapsley Wilson took his place, only to return his 
commission to General Grubb in 1894. 

John C. Groome was elected Captain in 1896 and led 
the Troop to Porto Rico in the War with Spain, dm-ing 
1898, when it was the first volunteer cavalry organization 
to land on foreign shores, and brought back the ninety-nine 
men who went out. Captain J. Franklin McFadden was 
elected in 1910 and commanded on the Mexican border 
in 1916. Captain George C. Thayer was elected in 1917. 

The meeting places of the Troop form a long list. The 
early ones were at various public and private houses, such 
as the City Tavern on South Second Street, William 
Ogden's at the Middle Ferry on the Schuylkill River, the 
old fish house of the " State in Schuylkill " and others. 
The first fixed home of its own seems to have been in 1828 
at Sixth and Carpenter Streets and after more meetings at 
hotels intervening the members gathered at Eighth and 
Chestnut Streets and then at Twelfth and Chestnut. In 
1864 the Armory at Twenty-first and Ash Streets was 
opened and the first mounted drills held indoors. Several 
extensions were made and in 1900 the present armory on 
Twenty-third Street was built. 

On Anniversary Day, November 17th, the Troop has 
a great celebration each year, when it " parades and dines." 
This is repeated on each Washington's Birthday and begins 
with a parade from the Armory on Twenty-third Street 
down to Thirteenth and Walnut Streets and back. This 
curious route is caused by an old tradition that on this dis- 
tinguished occasion the Troopers should parade past " the 
club " where their friends were assembled to admire them. 

293 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Of course " the club " was the Philadelphia Club which 
for many years has been housed at Thirteenth and Walnut 
Streets. 

The origin of this custom is interesting. In the old 
days, when they held their meetings in the small rooms of 
inns, their numbers so crowded the room that the waiters 
could not spread the banquet that followed the meeting, 
consequently the Troopers were politely asked to take a 
walk while the dinner was being laid. Where should they 
go but to " the club " and how should they go but in mili- 
tary formation. 

Philadelphia is justly proud of its old Troop of " Light 
Horse " and they are trotted out upon every important 
occasion as of old. N^or are they met with quip or jest by 
the populace as are many similar organizations of " gentle- 
men " elsewhere, because most people know what they have 
done and what they are always ready to do. 



THE WISTAR PARTIES 




3 HE letters of John Adams to his 
wife are enthusiastic in describing 
the luxui-ious living prevalent among 
the " Nobles of Pennsylvania " but 
among his gossipy references to the 
people he meets and their bounteous 
entertainments no better obseiTa- 
tion is recorded than that he has found " high thinking " 
here which is better than high living. The best example 
of this feature of Philadelphia life is found in the 
notable gatherings at Fourth and Prune Streets, now 
Locust, under the hospitable roof of Dr. Caspar Wistar. 
These represented the genial and social side of learn- 
ing. The house, which has been restored within and 
without to much of its original beauty, was built about 
1750 and lived in for a time by Dr. William Shippen, 
perhaps the most talented member of his family. His 
marriage to Alice Lee, daughter of Thomas Lee of Vir- 
ginia, was one of the many connections between the Colo- 
nial families of Philadelphia and the county families of 
Virginia and Maryland, and made liis house the centre 
for the Virginia aristocrats visiting Philadelphia. 

In 1799 Dr. Caspar Wistar moved from High Street 
near Fourth to Fourth and Prune Streets and continued 
to live there until his death in 1818. Dr. Wistar was a 
very busy man, having an extensive practice and a chair 
at the University. His unusual traits of character and liis 
genius for intellectual leadership made him an object of 
affectionate homage by his friends who loved to enjoy the 
hospitable moments of his leism-e time. As these were 
necessarily limited, the custom was formed of dropping in 
on him on Sunday evenings when they were pretty sure of 

295 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



finding liini at home. xVs the years passed these weekly 
gatherings became one of Pliiladelphia's most cherished 
institutions, the same group of friends meeting week after 
week. They included most Philadelphians of distinction, 
and as all strangers of note were introduced into tliis circle 
of choice spirits, it became the centre of the literary and 
scientific society of the City. Dr. Wistar's close association 
with the American Philosophical Society made his house 
the rally point of the learned world, and, in time, there came 
to be an approximate identity between the smaller body 
for social intercourse and that of the larger and world- 
famous scientific body. 

The entertainment was simple, consisting of wine and 
cake, tea and coffee, as Dr. Wistar's idea was an intellect- 
ual rather than a convivial gathering. The table was 
seldom spread. In 1811 the night of the meeting was 
changed from Sunday to Saturday evening and ice cream, 
raisins and almonds were added to the refreshments. Ter- 
rapin, oysters and other delicacies were introduced later. 
The guests usually ranged from ten to fifty in number 
and the regular habitues had the privilege of bringing 
whom they would. Invitations began in October or No- 
vember and continued to be sent out until April, gathering 
the best the new world civilization could produce of talent, 
learning, courtly grace and good breeding. Some of the 
most notable visitors were Baron von Himiboldt, the natu- 
ralist; Bonplaud, the botanist; the witty Abbe Correa de 
Serra; JNIr. Samuel Breck, of Boston; Dr. John W. Fran- 
cis, of New York; Robert Walsh, Joseph Hopkinson, 
Nicholas Biddle, Dr. Nathiell Chapman and the older 
physicians. Dr. Benjamin Rush, the many-sided, who " be- 
longed to humanity;" Dr. Adam Kuhn, both the William 
Shippens, father and son, eminent physicians practising 

296 



THE WISTAR PARTIES 



at the same time, and the peaceful Dr. GrifRtts — Wilham 
Rawle, lawyer and theologian; Chief Justice William 
Tilghman, whose biogi-aphical sketch of Dr. Wistar sur- 
vives; George Clymer, statesman and patriot; Peter Du- 
ponceau, the Moravian missionary ; John Heckewelder and 
the Unitarian pliilanthropist John Vaughan at the ex- 
tremes of doctrine, and a host of other celebrities, whose 
names are a sufficient guarantee of the brilliance of these 
gatherings. 

Dr. Wistar's fame does not, however, rest upon the 
Wistar Parties. He had studied medicine at Edinburgh 
and was a professor in the University, a teacher, physician, 
man of science and the author of the first American treatise 
on Anatomy. His demeanour was dignified, modest and 
courteous and he was ardent in inciting the members of 
the Philosophical Society, while he was its president, to 
collect the materials of American history before it was too 
late. He made the work of its committee so interesting 
by his own anecdotes that they sat long into the night 
listening to him. 

When Dr. Wistar died in 1818 a few of his more 
intimate friends determined to continue their pleasant 
association and formed an organization which they 
called the " Wistar Parties " with membership in the 
Philosophical Society and a unanimous vote requisites 
for joining. Three parties a year were held until the 
Civil War broke up for a time the wholesome convivial- 
ity. Members were selected for their attainments and 
twenty Philadelphians were permitted as guests with no 
limit to strangers. Attendance was punctual at eight 
o'clock and the entertainment remained simple and un- 
ostentatious. 

297 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



In 1835 Job R. Tyson bought Dr. Wistar's old house 
and once more it opened to the learned and jovial brother- 
hood, the meetings being held in rotation at the houses of 
the members. 

In the early part of the eighteenth century Philadelphia 
was better known abroad than any other American city 
and all travellers of consequence came to it. These were 
entertained, if fortunately nearby, at the Wistar Parties 
and we find such names as General Moreau, the younger 
Murat, the IMarquis de Grouchy, the poet ^loore, Prince 
de Canino, son-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte, President 
Madison, the diplomat William Short, representative of 
the United States to France, Spain and the Netherlands, 
the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, President John Quincy Adams, 
Thackeray, ^Ir. Pedersen, minister from Denmark, Colonel 
Beckwith and several French Chevaliers. 

Upon one occasion the whole company of about one 
hundred were regaled with chicken salad, oysters, ices, wine, 
punch and the like at an expense of $24.87, including the 
wliiskey for the punch, spermaceti candles, oil for the 
lamps and extra fire in one room. 

Written invitations were used until 1835 when JNIr. 
Vaughan speaks of the engraved card similar to the one 
used to-day with the quaint, queued head of Dr. Wistar 
upon it. The gatherings continued in brilliancy with 
such citizens present as Roberts Vaux, ]Mathew Carey 
and his son, Henry C, political economists, Joseph Hop- 
kinson, the elder Peale, Dr. Frederick Beasley, Provost 
of the University, Dr. Robert INI. Patterson, Robert Walsh, 
Horace Binney, William ]M. Meredith, John Sergeant, 
Joshua Francis Fisher, Judge Kane, Langdon Cheves, 
Thomas Wharton, Dr. Robert Hare, Dr. Thomas C. 

298 




THE PHILADELPHIA CLUB, AT THIRTEENTH AND WALNUT 
STREETS 




ST. MARYS CHURCH. THE CADWALADER HOUSE, ^:<>^^^™^^ H^^IJ'i Jl'j'rTcT <IrTV t^ 
ASSURANCE COMPANY, AND THE WISTAR HOUSE AT FOLRTH AND LOCI bT M RKKT> 



THE WISTAR PARTIES 



James, Dr. John K. Mitchell, Dr. Isaac Hays, Dr. Frank- 
lin Bache, Dr. George B. Wood, Dr. Charles Meigs, Mon- 
cure Robinson and Dr. Isaac Lea. 

It was not until 1886 that the scattered members re- 
smned the Wistar Parties, loyally adliering to ancient tra- 
ditions, except perhaps in the simplicity of the repast. The 
same kind of men are still pleasantly mingling together 
in intellectual fellowship at the fireside of some good old 
Philadelphian of attainment. 



THE PHILADELPHIA CLUB 




^,:i^(:T 



^ LTHOUGH not a very old institu- 
tion, as Philadelphia reckons age, 
the Philadelphia Club is nevertheless 
an institution of institutions. It was 
founded in 1833 by Henry Bohlen, 
James ^larkoe, Joseph Parker Nor- 
ris, Henry Beckett, Joseph R. Inger- 
soll. Commodore James Biddle, George ]Miffliii Dallas, 
John M. Scott, and William and Henry Chancellor. These 
represent some of the oldest and most prominent families 
of the City and their association is universally known as 
the oldest and most solid distinctly City club. It first had 
rooms on Fifth Street below Walnut Street, then on Ninth 
above Spruce Street and on Walnut above Ninth. In 1850 
the club was incorporated as the Philadelj)hia Association 
and Reading Room and the present location at Thirteenth 
and Walnut Streets secured. In ]May of the same year 
the name was changed to the Philadelphia Club. The 
house had been built by Pierce Butler of South Carolina, 
that he and his famous old JNIadeira might pass the winter 
seasons in the north. It is a spacious building, like so many 
Philadelphia houses of the olden time and this characteristic 
is one of the links which seems to connect the City with the 
South. The sumptuous and lavish design of some of the 
Philadelphia edifices of Colonial days is in striking contrast 
to the frugal, chastened beauty of Boston's puritanical ex- 
teriors. One can easily imagine the Charlestonian lure 
for the wealthy Carolinian whose house has become the 
home of Philadelphia's most exclusive set. In this atmos- 
phere New York is merely acknowledged as the place 
which one has to pass through in going to New England 
or Europe for the summer. The typical Philadelphian al- 

300 



THE PHILADELPHIA CLUB 



ways pLays the game according to the rules and this can 
best be illustrated by an occurrence at the Philadelphia 
Club as narrated by the visitor to whom it occuiTed : 

"A stranger recently in Philadelphia on business bethought 
himself, in his friendless state, of a one-time casual acquaintance 
who had given as his address a Philadelphia club. From his hotel 
the visitor telephoned the club and asked if he might speak with 
Mr. John Doe. The telephone-clerk asked the inquirer's name, 
and after a decent interval replied that Mr. Doe was not in the 
club. The inquiry was then made whether Mr. Doe was in town 
and likely to be reached by a note sent to the club. The clerk 
politely regretted that he was not allowed to give any such infor- 
mation concerning a member of the club. The visitor protested, 
and was finally allowed to speak to the secretary's office. He 
gave his name again and, in answer to what seemed an odd query, 
that of his hotel. He explained that the shortness of his stay in 
Philadelphia was the reason of his anxiety to know whether he 
was likely to get hold of Mr. Doe during it or not. The secretary 
also politely regretted his inability so to violate the privacy of 
any member's life. The visitor, now vaguely feeling that he was 
being treated like a dun, or a detective, protested in shght exas- 
peration that his designs upon Mr. Doe were honourable and 
purely social — that indeed he felt so sure of Mr. Doe's desire 
to welcome him to Philadelphia as to be inclined to insist upon 
some disclosure of even a club-member's whereabouts. The secre- 
tary now grew the least bit weaker, moved either by an inner 
kindliness or by some note of social authority in tlie visitor's 
voice, and at last grudgingly said that although the rules of the 
club were perfectly clear upon the point, he would as a courtesy 
consult one or two members of the board of governors who hap- 
pened at that moment to be in the smoking-room. There was 
again a decent if tedious interval, and the secretary's voice was 
once more heard. He reiterated that it was contrary to the rules 
of the club to give information as to the whereabouts of any 
member, but that it had been decided that, in this special case, an 
exception might be made. He was pleased to inform the visitor 
that Mr. John Doe had died in December of the preceding year ! 

301 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



" The first comment to be made upon this authentic anecdote is 
that, in spite of the secretary's courteous pretense, the rules of 
the club were not violated by the disclosure of a member's where- 
abouts, since the inquirer after Mr. John Doe was still left, theo- 
logically speaking, with a choice between two possible addresses. 
The second observation, perhaps more profoundly significant, is 
that death scarcely increases the inaccessibilty of a well-bom 
Philadelphian." 

To celebrate the occupancy of the Club's new house 
three balls were given on successive Thursdays in 1857. 
The first of these " private assemblies " was given in the 
clubhouse, the second in the house of Mrs. George Willing, 
in Girard Row, on the north side of Chestnut Street 
between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets, and the third by 
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Cadwalader, in their house likewise 
in Girard Row. When some of the younger governors 
wish to stir up a row they have it whispered about the club 
that they have decided to give another ball. 

The Philadelphia Club contains some of the most active 
and worthy citizens of the old town who are continuing in 
the quiet and gentle way of their ancestors many impor- 
tant and useful undertakings, more stable and dependable 
perhaps than similar, though more noisy, institutions else- 
where. It also contains many typical " family pieces" who 
spend their days in the easy chairs until the rush hour be- 
fore dinner when they move quickly about seeking their 
last refreshment before going home. It seems fair to 
think, on the whole, that in the turmoil and tumult of talk- 
ing with which a large part of the nation is beset that Phila- 
delphia's contribution and example of contentment is no 
mean one toward the simple happiness of life. In this 
contribution the Philadelphia Club leads all the rest. 



THE SCHUYLKILL FISHING COMPANY 




HE oldest social organization in the 
English speaking world is what is 
now known as The Schuylkill Fish- 
ing Company. In 1729 some 
Welshmen formed themselves into 
the " Society of Ancient Britons " 
and met on St. David's Day, March 
1st, at the Queen's Head Tavern 
kept by Robert David in King Street, now Water. From 
thence they walked in solemn procession, with leeks in their 
hats, to Christ Church, where a sermon was preached to 
them in the original Cymric by Dr. Weyman. After the 
sermon the society returned to the tavern and dined with 
ceremonious form, the chief notables of the province being 
present. They celebrated St. David's Day in this way 
for many years and their members formed a fishing com- 
pany whose " fort " was on a broad, high rock at the Falls 
of Schuylkill, on the east bank, from which they made war 
from the rude timber shanty, on the catfish for which the 
river was famous. This was the forerunner of the " Colony 
in Schuylkill," formed in 1732, and was afterwards merged 
with it. 

The " Colony in Schuylkill " was a company of sports- 
men of jovial and convivial mean. With lordly manner 
and feudal form they assumed eminent domain and uncon- 
trolled legislation over field and stream within their juris- 
diction, choosing governor, assembly, council, sheriff, 
coroner and citizens who went through all the forms of a 
real government like an independent North American 
Colony. 

Thomas Stretch was governor; Enoch Flower, Charles 
Jones, Isaac Snowden, John Howard and Joseph Stiles, 

303 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



members of assembly; James Coultas, Sheriff; Joseph 
Stiles, Secretary and Treasurer; William Hopkins, Coro- 
ner; and William Warner, Baron. "Baron" Warner 
owned the estate on which the fish-house was erected, and 
received, as rental, the first perch caught at the opening of 
the season. This land is nowinFairmountPark and the first 
castle, or fish-house, was erected in this sylvan wilderness 
above the west end of the present Girard Avenue bridge. 
The members were a frolicsome lot of the best social set and 
this seems to have been the only organization of the olden 
time which did not include Benjamin Franklin as a 
member. 

The first castle was destroyed by fire and rebuilt on the 
same spot in 1812, and in 1822 when the dam at Fairmount 
obstructed the passage of the fish it was removed to the 
vicinity of Rambo's Rock on the east or left bank of the 
river near Gray's Ferry. This was quite an undertaking 
and was accomplished with the help of two specially con- 
structed flat boats. When the oil works were built and 
the stream became so contaminated as to interfere with 
fishing the castle was again taken do^vii, in November, 
of 1887, and moved to its present site on the Delaware 
River at Eddington near Andalusia. 

The annual elections are the great times at the castle. 
The expenses used to be moderate and consisted chiefly in 
providing a good repast of beef, pig, steaks and the re- 
sults of their fishing and fowling, accompanied by flowing 
bowls of good punch, lemonade and madeira, followed by 
pipes and tobacco. An account of 1748 showed a total 
expense of £6 18s 8d, for 84 persons. A good turtle and 
a barbecue were common features at election dinners to 
which strangers and friends of members were usually 
invited. 

304 



THE SCHUYLKILL FISHING COMPANY 

No one without permission ever intruded on their pos- 
sessions, or invaded the rights said to have been granted 
to them by some Indian chief of the Delaware tribe, and 
when the Provincial Government of Pennsylvania ap- 
pointed commissioners to survey the river they graciously 
authorized James Coultas, a fellow-member and one of 
the Commissioners, to perform his duties. 

When independence was declared many of the mem- 
bers enlisted with the First Troop of which their Gov- 
ernor Samuel Morris was the Captain. They then 
changed the name to the State in Schuylkill. The mem- 
ories of Washington and of Governor Morris are always 
pledged at every stated meeting. While Philadelphia 
was the capital President Washington was a frequent 
visitor at the castle and both he and Lafayette, who vis- 
ited them later, were honorary members. There are but 
five of these, and never more than thirty active members. 
Five " apprentices " have the privilege of the club until 
the death of a member, when the senior novice is taken 
into full membership. There are thirteen appointed fishing 
days in each year, at equal periods between May 1st and 
October 1st, when the company assembles at the castle 
and a citizen, designated " Caterer," assisted by the ap- 
prentices, prepares the golden perch in the ancient pans 
and old manner. An important and solemn ceremony is 
this, for the apprentices must stand a test which has been 
passed by every dead and hving member of the club. He 
must hold three perch in a long-handled frying pan over 
the blazing wood fire until one side is done to a turn, then, 
with a quick twist of his wrist, toss the fish up the old chim- 
ney, catching them as they fall on the uncooked side. This 
is no easy task with three fish and is only accomplished 
after diligent practice. The perch are served to the com- 

20 305 



I 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



pany assembled about the ancient table, on one of William 
Penn's platters presented to the club by his son John 
who was a member while Governor. " Fish-house Punch " 
is famous far beyond Philadelphia and is brewed from an 
old Colonial recipe and served to the members from a 
bowl brought from China by Captain Ross of the Troop. 
No servant, save a caretaker, ever enters the " castle " 
and the building is also barred to women. Matches are 
also barred, on account of the memory of the destruction 
of their first home, and pmik is used for lighting the pipes. 
On May 1, 1832, there was a high celebration of the 
centenary of the club. The feast was more sumptuous 
than usual and these convivial gentlemen drank fourteen 
toasts, it may be assumed, in their famous Fish-house 
Punch. They drank to the memory of the founders, who, 
100 5'ears before, had united to establish the " Colony 
in Schuylkill." After which, Johnson's " Centennial 
March " was sung. They drank to the revered memories 
of Stretch and of Morris, departed Governors of the State, 
whose remembrance of their worth would, they declared, 
be co-extensive with the sovereignty and independence of 
the State in Schuylkill. They drank to the memory of 
Washington, when a Centennial dirge was played. They 
also drank to their angling ancestors, " who had exchanged 
the troubled waters of tliis world for the calm Ocean of 
Eternity." Then came Robert Wharton, their late Gov- 
ernor, " now in the winter of life, we remember him in 
the summer and autunm of existence, as an honourable, 
active and efficient Governor of City and State." And 
this was followed by the " Governor's March." They did 
not forget General Lafayette, though parted from him 
" by the great Herring Pond," they remembered with 
infinite pleasure his visit to " the waters of their State." 

306 



THE SCHUYLKILL FISHING COMPANY 



And in unison they intoned, " Should Auld Acquaintance 
Be Forgot." 

The Navy of the State in Schuylkill came next—" it 
never fishes in troubled waters." And the eighth toast was 
Good Old Laws and Regulations, revered and strictly 
adhered to, the grand secret of the unparalleled prosperity 
and duration of the Fishing Company of the State in 
Schuylkill. Of course, they drank to " The Fair "—"when 
angling for hearts may their hooks ever be baited with 
modesty and good nature." And the sentimental gentle- 
men sang, " Oh, Woman! " 

After which they drank to the finny tribe. " We wel- 
come the scaly fellows in their annual visits to our State," 
they said, and then sang, " Haste to the Sports of the 
Water." " Our visiting brethren " followed those joining 
in the celebration of the day: "In the evening of life 
may its festivities take an elevated rank in their pleasurable 
reminiscences," which suggested to them " The Stranger." 
Being still thirsty, apparently, they drank to " Our Coun- 
try," " dear to the immigrant as a home, dearer to us as the 
blessed land of our nativity." The obvious song was 
" Home, Sweet Home." The First City Troop, " ever 
foremost in our regard," was not forgotten. " Its ear- 
liest members and four of its commanders were citizens 
of our State." It is permitted to assume that by this time 
their voices were a bit hoarse, when they sang " The 
Trooper." But they had enough strength to drink to the 
memory of good old Izaak Walton, the devout man and 
industrious fisherman. Whereupon those who still had 
enough strength left to do so, struck out a " solemn dirge." 
Any one initiated in the mysteries of the old Fish-house 
Punch will probably agree that was the only thing left for 
them to do. 

307 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



One doesn't hear much about the " State in Schuylkill " 
nowadays, but wh\^ should one ? The hearty lot of gentle- 
men who enjoy its privileges make no more pretense than 
a healthy mingling after the fashion of their congenial 
ancestors in a community where blood is distinctly thicker 
than water, and then, over the entrance to this hall of 
conviviality hangs a translation of the verse of Horace : 



Ne fidos inter amicos sit, 
Qui dicta foras eliminet. 



which means: 



Let no one bear beyond this threshold hence 
Words uttered in friendly confidence. 



FRIENDS' ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE 




HE ignorance with which insane 
persons were treated in early days 
seems incomprehensible in the light 
of present day methods. They were 
regarded as incm-able and a menace 
to the community, so that they were 
imprisoned in close and dungeon- 
like captivity, accompanied frequently by chains and beat- 
ings. They were often the subject of curiosity, badinage 
and superstition. Of all the maladies to which humanity is 
liable, those which affect the integrity of the mind have now 
become very properly the strongest in their claim upon our 
sympathy, and both their medical and moral treatment are 
receiving the attention due them after long injustice. 

To the Society of Friends is due the credit for the first 
organized recognition of a necessary change in the treat- 
ment of the insane. Their retreat at York, England, 
founded in 1792, opened the way for the attempt of the 
Quakers of Philadelphia in 1813 to establish a similar 
institution and the associated benefactors called themselves 
after the lengthy fashion of the day, " The Contributors 
to the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the 
Use of their Reason." By 1817 the asylum was in readi- 
ness to receive patients from the membership of the Soci- 
ety and it was the first of its kind on the Continent. Of 
course the Pennsylvania Hospital, which they had founded 
in 1751, had a section set aside for the treatment of persons 
** distempered in mind and deprived of their rational 
Faculties " but their asylum of 1813 was the first entirely 
for the care and study of the insane. 

The inception of the institution was in the Yearly 
Meeting of 1811 and in 1812 the plan was committed to 

309 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Thomas Scattergood, Jonathan Evans, Ellis Yarnall, 
Isaac Bonsall, Emmor Kiniber, Thomas Wistar and Sam- 
uel P. Griffits. It seems that the credit for the " opening 
of the concern " belongs to Thomas Scattergood, a Min- 
ister in the Society of Friends, who had seen the work of 
" The Retreat " near York, England. Unfortunately, 
his death in 1814 deprived him of the satisfaction of seeing 
his hopes realized. Jonathan Evans received the sub- 
scriptions and the contributors selected a piece of land in 
Frankford containing 52 acres which they purchased for 
$6764. A patient of each sex were the first admitted and 
the woman was discharged as improved and the man was 
cured so that the opening was a most encouraging one. 
The first year's record shows 19 patients, four cured, one 
improved and discharged, all improved except tliree and 
no deaths. 

The land and buildings were increased from time to 
time and in 1834 the hospital opened to those not in mem- 
bership with Friends. In 1858 a charter was applied for 
but a protest immediately arose from Friends of the "Hicks- 
ite " branch, and for a time the old controversy of 1827 
was renewed, the objectors claiming rights in the property 
which they said had been denied them at that time, when 
most of the City property belonging to the Society was 
held by the " Orthodox " branch, a majority of its ad- 
herents being on the committees in charge. By 1887 a 
charter was granted without opposition, the title assumed 
being *' Friends' Asylum for the Insane." It has always 
been well managed and its grounds are beautifully laid 
out and planted. By tlie acquisition of the " Stanly Farm " 
at Fox Chase the Asylum controlled 104 acres, making a 
total of 340 acres in use for its benevolent purpose, which 
has restored the reason of 45 per cent, of its patients. 



THE QUAKER ALMSHOUSE AND 
THE BETTERING HOUSE 




HE industrious men and women who 
founded Philadelphia made no pro- 
vision for an almshouse in the 
healthy, fertile land. The two great 
conflicting parties, Assembly and 
Proprietary party, and the conserv- 
ative Quakers who watched over 
Penn's precious legacy caused a healthy development that 
made the City fairer and stronger each year. The charity 
of the Quakers has always extended to the bodies as well 
as the souls of men so that " as the way opened " they 
made a modest beginning of organized help from a pri- 
vate bequest of 1702. John Martin, an ancient Quaker 
tailor, dying in this year left a lot of ground between 
Third and Fourth and Spruce and Walnut Streets to his 
three friends, Thomas Chalkley, Ralph Jackson and John 
Michener, who evidently understood his wish in the matter 
for they built a long quaint house on the Walnut Street 
front, opening southward on a green field. The INIonthly 
Meeting soon took charge of the undertaking and sent some 
of the poorer members, who needed help, to live there. 
Little one-storied cottages, with a garret in each steep 
roof, were ranged in order on each side of a green lane 
and each cottage had its garden of bright flowers and heal- 
ing herbs. The place was a peaceful haven, aff"ording, 
not only shelter, but " opportunities for study and medi- 
tation." The philanthropy of these early days was devoid 
of the whims and sentiment of to-day's bleak desolation 
of " social " organization which looks after these " cases." 
Our forefathers provided a decent privacy in home-like 
suiTOundings for the happier poor, the old and helpless 



311 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



of two hundred years ago, and made a sharper and sterner 
provision for the sturdy beggar and the shameless wench. 
Two or three of the old women in this Quaker Alms- 
house had little schools, another made molasses candy, some 
sold herbs and a watchmaker hung some forlorn old pieces 
in one of the Walnut Street windows. The gro\vth of the 
City brought paved streets, high brick buildings, noise and 
turmoil about this sweet, green spot. An alley became 
the only entrance, but what a surprise for the fortunate 
passer-by who strayed within! Suddenly all was still and 
the air was filled with the perfume of roses, bees were hum- 
ming, quaint placid old men were sitting smoking their 
pipes under grape arbours, for Quakers smoked in those 
days, and old Quaker ladies were bending over beds of 
sweet marjoram and lavender. Although these quiet 
people knew well of the Bettering House, at one time on 
Spruce Street a few blocks away, of the fever patients 
and the nuns who nursed them, and of the graveyard of old 
St. Joseph's hidden away in Willing's Alley, where Gabriel 
and Evangeline sleep side by side, they did not disturb 
with aggressive and importunate detail the gentle pleasure 
of the pilgrims who came to their oasis murmuring 

" Home of the homeless, 

Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows and wood- 
lands, 

Now the City surrounds it ; but still with its gateway and wicket. 

Meek in the midst of splendour, its humble walls seem to echo 

Softly the words of the Lord, ' The poor ve have alwaj's with 
you.' » 

for they knew that Longfellow wrote about their home 
and that the details were imaginary. The thrifty little 
community was a very human one; they had their tra- 
ditions, their ghost and strange noises, and their aristocracy. 

312 




FRIENDS' ALMSHOUSE, WALNUT STREET BETWEEN THIKI) AND 
FOURTH STREETS 




FRIENDS' ALMSHOUSE, WALNUT STREET FRONT, lU ILF 17^9 
TORN DOWN 1840 



QUAKER ALMSHOUSE AND BETTERING HOUSE 



The front building on Walnut Street was torn down in 
1841 and the last of the smaller buildings in 187G. It is 
now called " Walnut Place." 

The idea of a rural workhouse, not a mere almshouse, 
was brought before the City Council in 1712. They made 
a distinction between poor and paupers. The latter were 
not popular and had to wear a badge with the letter " P " 
on their right sleeve. The Mayor, Aldermen Hill and 
Carter, Joshua Carpenter, William Hudson, Pentecost 
Teague, or some tliree of them, were appointed to report 
on the rent of a house and salary of the housekeepers and 
on September 1, 1713, Aldermen Preston and Carter were 
ordered to treat with Dr. Owen. The location of this 
house of employment is not known but it was probably the 
first house for the poor of Philadelphia. The first Alms- 
house was erected in 1732 on a lot of ground between 
Spruce and Pine Streets and Third and Fourth Streets, 
just below the Quaker Almshouse, on Society Hill. There 
was a gateway on Spruce Street but whoever came across 
the meadow from Third went in by a stile. Here were 
lodged the poor, the sick and the insane, and this hospital 
department of the Ahnshouse was the first in the United 
States. The institution was no sooner well established 
than removal was necessary on account of the encroach- 
ment of the rapidly growing City. The ground became 
valuable and the Almshouse had to go to the country, so it 
was moved to Spruce and Pine Streets, Tenth and 
Eleventh, in 1767. In 1834 the hospital department had 
grown to such proportions that it was separated from the 
Almshouse when all were moved to " Blockley " across 
the Schuylkill River and the old building at Tenth and 
Spruce Streets torn down. 




THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL 

EXJAMIX FRAXKLIX in his 

" Brief Account of the Pennsylvania 
Hospital," published in 1754, tells us 
of the concern that was felt in the 
City about the end of the year 1750 
on account of the want of shelter 
and care for sick and distempered 
strangers too poor to pay for expensive lodging, nurses 
and physicians. In his autobiography he tells how his 
friend, Dr. Thomas Bond, conceived the idea of estab- 
lishing a hospital and started out to obtain subscriptions 
for it. Dr. Bond found it slow work and those solicited 
wanted to know if it had Franklin's approval before they 
would give. Always willing to aid any good public enter- 
prise, Franklin accordingly entered heartily into the 
project, and as was his custom, prepared the people's minds 
for it by writing in the newspapers. Subscriptions began 
to come in faster and the Assembly was appealed to with 
success. The old fellow says he does not remember any of 
his political manoeuvres the success of which gave him more 
pleasure or for which he " more easily excused myself for 
having made use of some cunning." To obviate the criti- 
cism of physician's fees dissipating the funds, Doctors 
Thomas Bond, Lloyd Zachary and Phineas Bond oiFered 
their services without pay and the charter was granted 
May 11, 1751. 

The managers first chosen were Joshua Crosby, Ben- 
jamin Franklin, Thomas Bond, Samuel Hazard, Richard 
Peters, Israel Pemberton, Jr., Samuel Rhodes, Hugh 
Roberts, Josepli ^lorris, John Smith, Evan JMorgan, 
Charles ^Morris and the treasurer, John Reynell. 

Joshua Crosby was the first President of the Board 
of Managers, and Benjamin Franklin was its first clerk. 

814 



THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL 



The house of the lately deceased Jolin Kinsey, on the 
south side of High Street below Seventh, was rented and 
on February 6, 1752, an advertisement inserted in the 
" Pennsylvania Gazette " stating that the hospital was 
prepared to receive patients. Almost all tlie money came 
from the Quakers, who kept the hospital under their con- 
trol, it being a party stronghold, as the College was to the 
Episcopal and Proprietary party. The managers were 
fined for absence and lateness, the Towne Clock or the 
watch of the oldest person present being the standard to 
determine the time. Doctors Graeme, Cadwalader, IMoore 
and Redman were appointed to consult with the original 
three in extraordinary cases. Several spinning wheels, 
two pairs of cards, wool and flax were secured to furnish 
light labour for the patients. 

The eloquent Whitefield sent the receipts of a persuasive 
sermon, England sent much material aid and Parliament 
gave all the unclaimed funds of the Pennsylvania Land 
Company, amounting to £13,000. So after some con- 
troversy the square between Spruce and Pine and Eighth 
and Ninth Streets was obtained and the dignified building 
we all know was erected. On its ancient cornerstone is 
deeply cut this inscription: 

" In the year of Christ, MDCCLV, 
George the second Imppih' reigning, 
(For he sought the happiness of his people) 
Philadelphia flourishing, 
(For its inhabitants were public-spirited) 

This Building 
By the bounty of the Government, 
And of many private persons, 

was piously founded 
For the relief of the sick and the miserable 
May the God of Mercies 

bless the undertaking." 
315 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



Franklin succeeded Crosby as president in 1756 and 
drew up the very sensible rules for the direction of the 
hospital. 

Hugh Roberts planted the ample lawn with two rows 
of beautiful buttonwood trees, and with a scion of the 
famous Treaty Elm, and Franklin characteristically had 
tin boxes, lettered in gold " Charity for the Hospital '^ 
placed to receive the donations of friends and visitors. 
Gifts from prominent citizens evidenced the popularity 
and usefulness of the institution which was uninterrupted 
until the Revolution and its attendent confusion of the 
public service well-nigh ruined it. The diligent and reso- 
lute Quaker managers, however, averted the catastrophe, 
although it was years before it regained its old degree of 
usefulness. 

The First Troop of Pliiladelphia City Cavalry gave 
to the Hospital the entire sum received for its sen^ices 
during the Revolutionary War and the ^Maternity Ward 
for poor married women was built and endowed with this 
money. John Penn, grandson of the Founder, in 1804 
presented the leaden statue of his illustrious ancestor, 
which had originally stood in Wycombe Park, Bucks, 
England, where it was greatly admired by Franklin. In 
1817 Benjamin West, then president of the Royal Acad- 
emy in London, sent a replica of his famous painting of 
" Christ Healing the Sick," from which the adroit mana- 
gers of the Hospital realized $20,000 from the eager crowds 
who thronged to see it. 

The minutes of the managers are interesting records 
of patients and methods. Indian fighters and many 
soldiers wounded in the struggle of England and France 

316 



THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL 



for supremacy in America were among the early patients 
in this first hospital of the Colonies. During the British 
occupation of the City the military authorities took pos- 
session and filled it with their sick and wounded. When 
they left in June, 1778, they carried off the bedding, instru- 
ments and medicines without giving the least compensation. 

A curious source of income in the days when insane 
persons were thought incurable was derived from a charge 
of fourpence made for the permission of visitors to walk 
through the hospital and " see the crazy people." As 
these unfortunates increased it was found necessary to 
move them to a separate and much larger accommodation, 
so in 1841 the department for the insane known as " Kirk- 
bride's " was built in West Philadelphia. This popular 
name was derived from the personality of the first super- 
intendent, Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, who filled the 
position with marked success until his death in 1883. 
Dr. Benjamin Rush was especially active in studying the 
insane cases and caring for them. 

In 1762, Dr. John Fothergill, the Quaker physician 
of London, presented the hospital with a splendid collection 
of anatomical casts and drawings and these were made the 
basis of lectures by Dr. William Shippen, Jr., once a fort- 
night at a dollar apiece. In 1766 Dr. Thomas Bond began 
clinical lectures. The anatomist of those days pursued 
his investigations at the risk of his life and his abode was 
looked upon as the haunt of body-snatchers and the favour- 
ite abiding place of ghosts. The dead bodies were brought 
there, it was said, and " their flesh was boiled and their 
bones bui-nt down for the use of the faculty." Boys would 
advance as far as they dared and retreat suddenly, singing: 

317 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



" The body-snatchers ! They have come, 

And made a snatch at me ; 
It's very hard them kind of men 

Won't let a body be ! 
Don't go to weep upon my grave, 

And think that there I'll be ; 
They haven't left an atom there 

Of my anatomy ! " 

The Hospital was, as has been said, the rallying point 
of the Quaker or Assembly party. Most of the distin- 
guished and able members of the Society of Friends have 
been interested in it down to the present time and its sei'\' ice 
is eagerly sought by every graduating medical student of 
note at the University. The beautiful old buildings in 
the midst of their verdure are next to the State House 
group one of the most charming in the United States. 



THE PHILADELPHIA DISPENSARY 




-^HE picturesque little Colonial build- 
ing set somewhat back from Fifth 
Street opposite to Independence 
Square houses the oldest dispensary 
in the United States. It was opened 
on Strawberry Alley, April 12, 
1786, for the medical relief of the 
poor, which could be done at less public expense than in a 
hospital and in many cases with less inconvenience on the 
part of the sufferers. 

The first managers were Bishop White, Thomas Clif- 
ford, Samuel Powell, Rev. George Dufiield, Henry Hill, 
Samuel Vaughan, John Baker, Thomas Fitzsimons, Sam- 
uel Miles, Lawrence Seckel, Samuel Pleasants and Thomas 
Franklin. 

The physicians and surgeons were: Dr. Samuel P. 
Griffitts, Dr. James Hall, Dr. William Clarkson, Dr. 
John Morris, Dr. John Carson and Dr. Caspar Wistar, 
who had for consultants Dr. John Jones, Dr. William 
Shippen, Jr., Dr. Adam Kuhn and Dr. Benjamin Rush. 
The first year showed 719 patients at a cost of £326 6s. 4d. 
and the receipts were £571 12s. 5d., showing the usual 
careful management. Clifford, the Treasurer, rented John 
Guest's house on Chestnut Street in 1787 and in 1801 the 
present location was secured. The prosperous institution 
soon paid off the debt incurred for the building, and re- 
stricted its ministrations within the bounds of the old City 
from Vine to South Street between the two rivers. 

The reluctance of the poor to enter a hospital and the 
still-to-be-found view among them of a horrible experi- 
mental surgery practised therein, gave the Dispensary 
great popularity, which was fortunate, for the two hospitals 

319 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



in the City could not have cared for more than they did. 
The first contribution list, headed of course by Ben- 
jamin Franklin, contains the names of 361 of the foremost 
citizens who inscribed their autographs and contributed a 
guinea each. Bishop White was the first president and 
Dr. Samuel Grifiitts secretary. JNIany physicians have 
been trained in the service of the Dispensary and its work 
has been so quiet and unostentatious that few persons out- 
side the poor know of its existence. The sick are still visited 
in their homes when too ill to come to the Dispensar}\ 
In 1816 the managers interested themselves in establishing 
both the Northern and Southern Dispensaries to relieve 
the parent institution and widen its serv^ice. 



THE ABOLITION SOCIETY 




T is SO difficult for us nowadays to 
picture a community where human 
slavery existed and where fellow- 
beings were bought and sold, hus- 
bands and wives permanently sepa- 
rated and children ruthlessly torn 
from their parents that we cannot 
very well realize the importance, as an innovation, of the 
first protest against slavery made by Francis Daniel Pas- 
torius and his comrades of Germantown Friends' Meeting 
in 1688. Perhaps the recent recognition of John Wool- 
man's Journal as one of the classics of the English lan- 
guage has helped some of us to understand the conditions 
which so distressed that sweet and noble spirit. By 1696 
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting took steps to discourage the 
increase of slavery and to improve the physical and moral 
condition of the blacks. In 1700 William Penn " mourned 
over the state of the slaves but his attempts to improve 
their condition by legal enactments were defeated in the 
House of Assembly." A more furious figure than the 
gentle Woolman was Benjamin Lay, who lived in a natural 
cave on the York Road above what is now Branchtown. 
Water and vegetables were his only food and he refused 
to wear any garment or eat anything involving the loss 
of animal life or slave labour. 

" Only four and a half feet high, hunch-backed, with 
projecting chest, legs small and uneven, arms longer than 
his legs, a huge head, showing only beneath the enormous 
white hat, large, solemn eyes and a prominent nose; the 
rest of his face covered with a snowy semi-circle of beard 
falling low on his breast, this fierce and prophetical brownie 
or kobold made unexpected dashes into the calm precincts 



21 



321 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



of the Friends' Meeting House, and was a gad-fly of every 
assembly." At one time, during Yearly JNIeeting, he sud- 
denly appeared marching up tlie aisle in his long, white 
overcoat, regardless of the solemn silence prevailing. He 
stopped suddenly when midway and exclaiming, " You 
Slave-holders! Why don't you throw off your Quaker 
coats as I do mine, and shew yourselves as you are? " At 
the same moment he threw off his coat. Underneath was 
a military coat and a sword dangling against his heels. 
Holding in one hand a large book, he drew his sword with 
the other. " In the sight of God," he cried, " you are as 
guilty as if you stabbed your slaves to the heart, as I do 
this book! " Suiting the action to the word, and piercing a 
small bladder filled with the juice of the poke- weed which 
he had concealed between the covers, and sprinkling as 
with fresh blood those who sat near him. Though 
offensive and peculiar, he was one of the active forces 
which paved the way to decisive action and was the fore- 
runner of many less rational agitators. Woolman, patient 
and persuasive, was the real force, however, which led to 
the Meeting's denying the right of membership to all those 
who continued, " after suitable labour had been extended," 
to hold their fellow-men as property. 

In 1774 the " Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the 
Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Xegroes un- 
lawfully held in Bondage " was organized, and it was the 
first of its kind. The founders were John Baldwin, presi- 
dent; Thomas Harrison, secretary; Samuel Davis, treas- 
urer; Arthur Thomas, Seymour Hart, Thomas Wishart, 
John Browne, Joel Zane, Thomas Hood and James Mor- 
gan. During the same year there were admitted Cad- 
walader Dickinson, William Lippincott, Amos Wicker- 
sham, James Starr, Joseph Shotwell, Jr., William Coats, 

S22 



/ 



THE ABOLITION SOCIETY 



Matthew Henderson, John Hamilton, John Davis, Joshua 
Comly, Thomas Morgan and John Bull. Soon the leaven 
from the Quakers spread to persons of other denominations 
and in 1787 Benjamin Franklin became president; James 
Pemberton and Jonathan Penrose, vice-presidents; Ben- 
jamin Rush and Tench Coxe, secretaries, and James Starr, 
treasurer. By 1793 the zeal and activity of the Society had 
given rise to many similar societies in other States, had 
secured a wide improvement in State laws relating to 
slavery and had procured the emancipation of several 
thousand blacks who were detained in bondage contrary to 
the laws of the State. The next year it held a convention 
in Philadelphia which was attended by delegates from all 
societies for the abolition of slavery in the United States 
and petitioned the Congress and the Pennsylvania Legis- 
lature to adopt laws protecting the African race and sup- 
press the slave trade. On the 22nd of March, Congress 
adopted such a law. 

In Isaac T. Hopper the spirit of John Woolman 
seemed to find its reincarnation and he became in 1795 a 
leading member of the Abolition Society. The biography 
of this Friend and indefatigable abolitionist is one of the 
most entertaining ever written. It is a record of a long and 
zealous sei-vice to fugitive slaves conducted through much 
persecution with a calmness and good nature which is re- 
markable. He taught in the school for coloured children 
and adults founded by Anthony Benezet for many years 
and was the friend and legal adviser of coloured people 
under every emergency. His wit was as keen as his heart 
was big and his personal presence so strong and impressive 
that even his enemies looked with admiration they could 
not repress on the noble face and figure of this smiling 
marplot of all their schemes. His sense of humour seemed 

323 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



to conflict slightly with his Quaker garb and principles 
and this, together with his powerful and courageous indig- 
nation, often caused his enemies to become his strongest 
friends. A curious whim of Hopper's was to amuse him- 
self by stepping into undertaking establishments and " try- 
ing on " the coffins by getting into them. One day while 
walking along the seashore in his plain clothes he was 
accosted by some city chaps looking for a sailboat for an 
afternoon's pleasure, who asked, " Are you a skipper? " to 
which the old Friend replied, " No, I am a Hopper! " 

The yearly meetings of the Abolition Society brought 
together many eminent and positive persons whose fervour 
for a common purpose was the only force that enabled them 
to work together. Many women were as prominent as 
the men and shared with them the rigours of the cause in 
literature, the " Underground Railroad," and public speak- 
ing. Among these were Abigail Goodwin, Esther Moore, 
Mary Grew, the Lewis sisters and the widely known 
Lucretia Mott, an eminent INIinister among Friends. 
Thomas Shipley, Thomas Garrett, Daniel Gibbons, 
Charles Cleveland, Miller INIcKim and such names 
as Fumess, Tappam, Burleigh, Birney and Pierce were 
the more active lights among the men. The abolitionists 
were looked upon as disturbers of the peace and found 
difficulty in securing halls in which to hold their meetings. 
In 1837 they purchased a large lot of ground at the south- 
west corner of Sixth and Haines Streets, below Race, 
where they erected " Pennsylvania Hall." This inmie- 
diately became the storm centre and there was considerable 
violence from the crowds that came to the meetings, cul- 
minating in the destruction of the building by fire. In 

324 



THE ABOLITION SOCIETY 



these times of extreme feeling, agitation and rioting the 
Abolition Society took only a mild part, the more 
belligerent organization being the Pennsylvania Anti- 
Slavery Society. The Abolition Society, however, has sur- 
vived and still looks after the condition of the coloured 
people in Philadelphia as well as administering several 
trusts for the maintenance of coloured schools in the South. 



EARLY DENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES 




NE of the earliest of Quaker testimonies 
was against a " liireling " ministry. 
They believe that each individual has 
" that of God" 'v\'ithin him, which if he 
is faithful to it, will lead and direct his 
life, so that all are on an equal footing 
before God and there is no privileged 
class. Each member is expected to give forth the wish of 
God in word and deed as freely as he receives it, with 
no limitation as to time, place or prearrangement. It is 
obvious then that no organization existed among them for 
the care of aged ministers or their families. Each monthly 
meeting has a committee which looks after all needy mem- 
bers in a secret way, drawing freely upon the meeting 
funds for the pm-pose. 

There was, however, an early effort among Friends to 
offer temporary assistance to the distressed of the City. 
This was through " The Female Society of Philadelphia 
for the Relief of the Distressed," originated in 1793 after 
the yellow fever outbreak which brought terror and destitu- 
tion to so many of the poor who were unable to escape to 
the countrj\ The Society was founded by Ann Parrish at 
the house of Isaac Parrish, southeast corner of Second 
Street and Pewterplatter Alley. Meetings were held at 
the house of Rose Lowry in Pewterplatter Alley and in 
1795 organized with Ann Parrish as clerk and Catharine 
W. Morris as treasurer. A house of industry or " the 
house designated for spinners," was established on the west 
side of Mickle's Court which ran south from Arch Street 
west of Second. In 1816 the Society was incorporated in 
the style of that time, which, like contemporary books, tell 
all the stoiy in their titles, and was called " The Female 

S26 



EARLY DENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES ^, 

Society of Philadelphia for the Relief and Employment 
of the Poor." For the next thirty years the house of 
industry was in Ranstead's Court, running west from 
Fourth Street above Chestnut. In 1846 the property at 
153 North Seventh Street was purchased and occupied. 

After the unpleasantness among Friends in 1827 the 
good souls among the " Hicksites " had to form new organi- 
zations, as they were excluded by the " Orthodox " brethren 
from participating with them in works for peace and phi- 
lanthropy. In 1828 Mary Knight drew some of her friends 
together on the fifteenth of the eleventh month and organ- 
ized "The Female Association of Philadelphia for the 
Relief of the Sick and Infirm Poor with Clothing, etc." 
How fortunate that little " etc." ! Meetings were held 
in the schoolroom of Friends' Central School, adjoining 
the Meeting House at Fifth and Cherry Streets, and gar- 
ments cut out and made for the sick and suffering poor 
from materials purchased with dues. Soon " The Northern 
Association for the Relief of and Employment of the 
Poor " sprang up from the earlier organization, so as to 
accommodate those living in another section of the City, and 
in 1830 another live society was born of the same seed and 
was caUed the " Friends' Charity Fuel Association." ^Vhen 
Friends' Central School was moved to Fifteenth and Race 
Streets in 1859 the " Female Association " moved with it 
and now meets in the Meeting House at that place. Gifts 
have increased its revenue so that now another group of 
worthy poor is helped by employment in making the gar- 
ments A paragraph from the latest report of the Asso- 
ciation is so characteristic of it and of Philadelplua that 
it must be recited: 

327 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



" The plan of work of this Association has been widely adopted, 
showing the wisdom of those gentle women, whose tender obituaries 
speak of their ' silent ' methods that were so different to those of 
the present day." 

In other denominations the situation is different, since 
the ministers have no other occupation than the care of 
the flock and in Philadelphia there were early movements 
to look after them and their families in old age. In 1717 
the Presbyterian Synod created " The Fund for Pious 
Purposes." The development of this idea by 1755 pro- 
vided for the annual payment of certain fixed sums by the 
ministers, who were called " subscribers," and for the pay- 
ment of certain annuities to their ^vidows and children. 
This Widows' Fund was essentially a mutual insurance 
or annuity company and was chartered by Thomas and 
Richard Pemi, Proprietaries, in 1759, as " The Corporation 
for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian ^lin- 
isters, and for Poor and Distressed Widows and Chil- 
dren of Presbyterian Ministers. Contributions had been 
solicited from the congregation and this often led to the 
failure of many ministers to pay their quotas, so that the 
corporation was planned to issue formal policies. The 
names attached to the Charter were the Reverends Robert 
Cross, Francis Alison, Gilbert Tennent, Richard Treat, 
Samuel Finley, and Messrs. William Allen, Alexander 
Houston, William Mcllvaine, John Mease, John Blaiklie, 
Thomas Bourne and Andrew Read. Solicitations were at 
once begun and the Rev. Charles Beattie visited the 
Churches of England, Scotland and Ireland for the pur- 
pose of securing donations to the fund. Efl'orts were made 
to enlist churches in the cause by donating a permanent 
fund for the benefit of their pastors and their families. In 
1824 the plan was changed to include aged ministers as 

3)28 



u 



EARLY DENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES 

well as their families. Thus the Presbyterian Ministers' 
Fund for Life Insurance is the oldest life insurance com- 
pany in America. Its long career has been increasingly 
useful, though its field is confined to ministers " Presby- 
terially governed." Its government is fashioned after the 
old English companies in that it has no president but is 
managed by a secretary and actuary, a treasurer and 
Board of Directors. 

The Episcopalians were next in the field with " The 
Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of 
Clergymen in the Communion of the Church of England 
in America," which was organized in 1769. The idea seems 
to have at least been encouraged by the older but similar 
association in the Presbyterian Church, but the first mover 
in the Anglican Church here seems to have been Dr. Wil- 
liam Smith, first Provost of the University, who was so 
energetic and original in so many useful enterprises. The 
Vice-Provost was Dr. Alison, who was one of the founders 
of the Presbyterian Society, and the two may well have 
planned in harmony for their brethren in the Gospel, as 
they did for the education of youth generally. Dr. Smith's 
travels in England just prior to the incorporation also gave 
him knowledge and experience with the solicitude of the 
mother church for her ministers. After the formation of 
the Society he and Rev. Richard Peters began solicitations 
for the fund in Philadelphia. Dr. Peters was chosen presi- 
dent and the first act of the Society was attendance upon 
divine worship at Christ Church, where Dr. Smith, the 
preacher for the year, delivered one of his eloquent ser- 
mons, at the conclusion of which a generous collection was 
taken. The earnestness of the undertaking, as well as its 
catholicity, is shown by the consultation of its active mem- 
bers with Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Galloway, 

329 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



neither of the Episcopal Communion, in order that the 
wisest plan might be chosen. Galloway's presence is ex- 
plained by the estrangement of Dr. Smith from Franklin 
whom he accused with want of truth and malignant tempers 
until he was dead, when he preached a funeral sermon over 
him. 

The approval and patronage of the Archbishop of 
Canterbury having been secured, the Society moved on to 
permanency and usefulness, the only interruption being 
the War of Independence, which separated the clergy 
of the two countries for a time. 

Another early society of the Episcopal Church wliich 
is still active was " The Society of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsyl- 
vania," which arose as a part of the general missionary 
and evangelical movement that marked the beginning of 
the nineteenth centur^\ A few leading ministers of the 
Church in Philadelphia, under the leadership of Bishop 
White, met at St. James' Church on Seventh Street on 
the 18th of April, 1812, to form a society to advance the 
doctrines of the Church and care for Diocesan Missions. 
The Rev. Jackson Kemper was the Society's first mission- 
ary and was soon joined by the Rev. William Augustus 
Muhlenberg and the Rev. John C. Clay. These were the 
pioneers in an organized work which now includes the 
administration of numerous funds for church purposes. 



THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY 




9ILLIAM PENN'S care and fore- 
thought in laying out the City of 
Philadelphia between two splendid 
rivers, his plan for the streets and the 
reservation of four large squares or 
parks, his hope that each house would 
have its little garden or orchard and 
that there should be a promenade along Front Street 
with an open prospect to the river and gardens sloping 
down to it were entirely unique in this country. No other 
man or settlement had such comprehensive plans. Penn 
carried his ideas further, as has been described, in choosing 
men of worth and industry for his colonists, so that the 
early success of his experiment was assured. Credit must 
also be given the Founder on this account for the excellence 
of the houses in durability and taste as he brought over an 
architect, one James Fortius, as well as skilled artisans. 
By the year 1724 the Master Carpenters were numerous 
and important enough to compose a guild patterned after 
" The Worshipful Company of Carpenters of London," 
founded in 1477. James Fortius was one of the most 
active of this little band to which Philadelphia owes so 
much in the beauty of its Colonial architecture. At his 
death in 1736 he left his choice collection of architectural 
works to his fellow-members, thus laying the foundation 
of their present valuable library. These men brought tools, 
ideas, plans and models from the mother country and stuck 
to them so that in the houses for which they were the 
architects as well as the builders we have examples of the 
best in England at that period. Judging from some of the 
original ideas perpetrated by our own more modern archi- 
tects within a stone's throw of the hall of the Carpenters' 
Company we could wish that the guild had assumed com- 

331 



EARLY PHILADELPHIA 



plete control. They were, however, a modest and un- 
assuming set of men and the object of their association was 
not a monopoly but instruction in the science of architec- 
ture and assistance to members of their families. They 
established a " Book of Prices " for the valuation of their 
work " on the most equitable principles " so " that the 
workmen should have a fair recompense for their labour, 
and the owner receive the worth of his money." The last 
will at once dispel any idea that this was the original labour 
union. No one but a Master Carpenter was or is eligible 
to membership and he must have been a master for six 
years. In 1745 was published a book of directions for 
joinery which shows that both the art of proportion and 
technical proficiency were to be expected from the local 
craftsmen. 

The officers consisted of a INIaster, Assistants and War- 
dens and the meetings were generally held at the Master's 
house. It was not until 1770 that a permanent home for 
the Company was erected upon what was then open ground 
from Chestnut to Walnut Streets. It was to be expected 
that this hall would be the dignified and beautiful building 
we know so well and the pity of it is that encroaching trade 
has hemmed it in on every side, so that with its distance 
back from Chestnut Street below Fourth it is unknown to 
many. 

The State House being used by the existing govern- 
ment, the Hall of the Carpenters' Company became the 
centre of many of the gatherings of patriotic citizens so 
nmnerous in the days leading up to the War for Inde- 
pendence when English George in America was to fight 
against German George in England. Almost all the 
" town meetings " of that eventful period were held on the 
lawn in front or within its walls. The Governor, fearing 
the effect of the patriotic movements upon his interests in 

33i 



L 




HALL OF THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY, CHESTNUT >TKI 1 I 
BELOW FOURTH 



THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY 



the Province, opposed his influence and authority against 
them and so the State House was not available. The Car- 
penters' Company well Iniew the responsibility they were 
under and the danger of the confiscation of their property, 
but keeping the names of the members voting off the min- 
utes agreed that they " Shall be allowed to meet here." 

The members of the First Continental Congress gath- 
ered at the Merchants' Coffee House on Second Street 
above Walnut, and on the morning of the 5th of Septem- 
ber, 1774, walked in a body to Carpenters' Hall. What a 
stately procession this must have been! How conscious, 
and yet unknowing, they must have been of the great epoch 
in the world's history which they were about to institute! 
Samuel and John Adams were among them and Joseph 
Galloway, John Dickinson, Thomas Mifflin, Csesar Rod- 
ney, Thomas McKean, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry 
Ijce, George Washington, Patrick Henry — all well known 
names. It is not here the place to recount the delibera- 
tions of these solemn men, how on the second day after a 
first spent in wrangling over a plan of voting, the eloquent 
Patrick Henry broke a long silence in that splendid plea 
for the obliteration of all lines, ending with the words, " I 
am not a Virginian, but an American." This was the sen- 
timent that actuated the body and they began by asking 
Mr. Duche, an Episcopal minister, to unite them in prayer. 
Patrick Henry's speech and Jacob Duche's prayer have 
been brought down to us in the printed word and the 
painted canvas and John Adams tells us that he saw " the 
tears gush into the eyes of the old grave pacific Quakers 
of Philadelphia." 

The paintings have not quite revealed to us the real 
setting, as at that time the large room on the first floor 
where the Congress met was divided into two rooms, with 
a spacious hallway running through the centre between 

333 



EARLYjPHILADELPHIA 



the two doorways. This will give us an idea of what a 
small and intimate gathering was this first assemblage of 
the representatives of the people. 

On the 18th of June, 1776, a Provincial Conference of 
the State met and on the 23rd declared the Independence 
of the Colony of Pennsylvania from Great Britain. On 
the loth of Juh^ this Conference ratified the Declaration of 
Independence passed by Congress on July 4th and adopted 
a Constitution w^hich served as the law of the land until 
after the Constitution of the United States was agreed to. 
The use of Carpenters' Hall for the patriots' cause was 
almost continuous and is a splendid tribute to the gener- 
osity and courage of its owners who are generally lost 
sight of in the brilliance of the events that took place within 
their hall. 

There was another struggle for liberty which ought not 
to be forgotten and whose cradle was the Carpenters' Hall. 
It was particularly appropriate that this united association 
for religious liberty should be set on foot in Philadelphia. 
On the 14<th of October, 1774, the Baptist Association was 
in session in the Hall and had before it the persecution of 
its members in New England. All friends of religious 
liberty, in or out of Congress, were invited. The Catholics 
of IMaryland and the cavaliers of Episcopal Virginia were 
there, while the Philadelphia Quakers seized the oppor- 
tmiity of presenting the grievances of their brethren in 
New England. John Adams tells us much of the proceed- 
ings in his diary and how he rebuked the principal speaker, 
Israel Pemberton, with great heat, telling the meeting 
" that in JNIassachusetts was and ever had been the purest 
political liberty known." Then up rose Israel with the 
quiet remonstrance — " John, John, dost thou not know of 
the time wlien Friends were hung in thy Colony because 
they would not subscribe to tlie belief of thee and thy 

334 



THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY 



fathers? Pray don't urge liberty of conscience in favour 
of such laws." This was the beginning of the effort which 
embodied the principles of religious liberty in the Federal 
Compact and in the Constitution of the States. 

The British Army of occupation in 1777 quartered 
their men in the Hall and used the second story for a hos- 
pital. Now begins a long list of important events in the 
old Hall. A meeting for the Encouragement of American 
Manufacturers, the United States Commissary General, 
the Philadelphia Library, the first Bank of the United 
States, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the United States Land 
Office, the Apprentices' Library, the Musical Fund So- 
ciety, The Franklin Institute and the school of John Wil- 
litts were all tenants. The separation in the Society of 
Friends in 1827 was largely between the country and city 
Friends, the latter being the most wealthy and influential 
of the " Orthodox " body. The city meeting places there- 
fore being controlled by them. Friends who adhered to 
the " Hicksite " branch were dispossessed as well as dis- 
franchised. They accordingly met for divine worship in 
Carpenters' Hall, that appropriate shrine of all liberties. 
This was until they could erect a meeting house of their own 
at Fifth and Cherry Streets. 

In 1828 C. J. Wolbert had a place of auction there 
where horses were sold. They were shown off up and 
down the passage-way in front of the building, and the 
cries of the auctioneer, bidders and hostlers must have been 
in striking contrast to the eloquence of the patriots and 
supplications of the Friends. Upon the occasion of the 
Centennial anniversarj^ of the meeting of the Continental 
Congress a notable assemblage in the old Hall listened to 
an oration by Henry Armitt Brown and this was the last 
distinguished gathering to enter the portal hallowed by 
memories unforgettable in City, State and Nation. 



INDEX 



Adams, John, 65, 295, 333, 334 
Advancement of Christianity Society, 330 
Aitken, Robert, 43 
Allen, William, 43, 96 
Apothecaries, Eariy, 192 
Assembly, 95 

Ball, Joseph, 235 
Banking, Early, 227 
Baptists, 30, 75 
Barclay, John, 40 
Biddle, Charies, 48 
Biddle, Nicholas, 186 
Bingham, William, 38, 40 
Black Horse Inn, 128 
Blackwell, Robert, 39 
Blue Anchor Tavern, 121 
Bond, Dr. Thomas, 314, 317 
Bradford, William, 43, 124 
Breintnall, David, 36 
Brewing, 268 
Byrd, William, 38 

Cadwalader, John, 161 
Carey, Mathew, 45 
Carpenter, Joshua, 37 
Carpenter, Samuel, 31, 36 
Carpenters' Company, 35 
Carpenters' HaU, 193, 196 
Catholics, Roman, 75 
Centre Square. 106 
Charity Schools, 208 
Chestnut Street Theatre, 119 
Chew, Chief Justice, 55 
Christ Church, 38, 42, 52, 69 
City Tavern, 127 
City Troop, 41 
Clarke's Hall, 36 
Clark's Inn, 125 

22 337 



Clerks of Market, 90 
Clubs, Governors', 60 
Cobbett, William, 45 
Colony in Schuylkill, 285 
Constables, 33 
Continental Congress, 333 
Cope, Thomas P., 31, 276 
Country, Character of, 25 
Court House, 32, 42, 79, 81 
Courts, 27 

Craik, Dr. James, 168 
Crooked Billet Inn, 126 
Cruikshank, Joseph, 45 
Cutler, Dr. Manasseh, 54 

Deshler, David, 45 

Dick, Dr. Elisha Cullen, 168 

Dickinson, John, 37, 48, 64 

Dickinson, Philemon, 163 

Dinners, 51, 53, 55 

Dock Creek, 28, 29. 30, 36, 37, 40, 122 

Dove, David James, 149 

Duch^, Jacob, 38, 154 

Dimlap, John, 45 

Duponceau, Peter S., 175 

Education, 21 
Episcopal Academy, 202 
Episcopalian Fund, 329 
Episcopalians, 30, 68 
Evangeline, 312 
Evans, Jonathan, 39 
Evans. Oliver, 277 
Eyre, Manuel, 31 

Fairmount Park, 110 
Fairs, 88 

Fire Brigades, 248, 251 
Fire Marks, 247 



INDEX 



Fisher, Samuel, S9 

Fish Market, 86 

Fitch, John, 217 

Flower, Enoch, iOO 

Forrest, Thomas, 46 

Frampton, William, 30 

Franklin, Benjamin, ii, 43, 51, 61, C4, 70, 

129, 135, 146, 147, 148, 160, 195, 239, 

241, 242, 272, 314 
Free Society of Traders, 24, 27 
French Ambassadors, 37 
French Refugees, 44 

Galloway Joseph, 48, 203 

George Inn, 127 

Germans, 58 

Germantown, SO, 58 

Germantown Academy, 45, 203 

Germantown Cricket Club, 225 

Germantown Market, 92 

Gilliams, Jacob, 189 

Girard, Stephen, 31, 44 

Gloucester Fox Hunting Club, 211, 285 

Godfrey, Thomas, 116 

Graeme, Doctor, 37 

Graydon, Alexander, 150, 217 

Hamilton, Alexander, 37 
Hamilton, Andrew, 90 
Hamilton, Dr. Alexander, 50 
Hamilton, William, S3 
Harrison, Dr. Charles C, 173 
Haverford College, 222 
Hazard, Ebeuezer, 250 
Hebrews, 77 
ILU, Henry, 39, 205 
Hilzheimer, Jacob, 51, 213 
Hollingsworth, 31 
Hopkinson, Francis, 70, 115, 154 
Hopper, Isaac T., 323 



Independence Square, 108 
Indian Reservations, 35 
Insane, Treatment of, 309, 317 
Intercollegiate Game, First, 223 

Jefferson, Thomas, 137 
Jersey Market, 84 
Junto, Franklin's, 129 

Kalm, Peter, 51 
Kearsley, Dr. John, 36, 69, 71 
Keith, George, 200 
Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 136, 152 
Kiusey, John, 43, 64 

Lancaster Pike, 103 

Land Grants, 22 

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 18G 

Lay, Benjamin, 321 

Lehman, Peter, 193 

Lehman, William, 198 

Leidy, Dr. Joseph, 191 

Lewis, 31, 39 

Lewis, J. Howard, 215 

Life Saving, 219 

Lighting, 52 

Lloyd, Da%-id, 63 

Logan, James, 36, 37, 62, 134 

Logan Square, 107 

London Coffee House, 123 

Lutherans, 30, 75 

Madison, Dolly, 39 

Makin, Benjamin, 200 

Malting Co. — Francis Perot's Sons, 208 

Market House, 27 

Market Prices 1779, 90 

Markets, 51, 53, 54, 5G 

Markets, Alderman in Charge of, 91 

Mason and Dixon Line. 99 



SS» 



INDEX 



Massey, Charles, 31 

Meeting Houses, 27, 39, 43, 59, 95, 106 

Merchants, 31 

Methodists, 76 

Mifflin, 41 

Mifflin, Thomas, 162 

Morgan, John, 154, 180, 192 

iNIorris, 41 

Morris, Anthony, 268 

Morris, Captain Samuel, 212, 287, 305 

Morris, Robert, 31, 47, 228, 230 

Muhlenberg, J. P. G., 163 

Mutual Assurance Company, The, 245 

Natural Sciences, Academy of, 42 
Navy's First Ships, 276 
Nekervis, William, 207 
Newhall, George M., 226 
New York, Travel to, 103 
Norris, Charles, 40 
Northern Liberties, 100 

Pastorius, Francis Daniel, 28, 58 

Paupers, care of, 313 

Pavement, 32 

Peale, Charles Wilson, 184 

Pegg's Rim, 29 

Pemberton, Israel, 37, 334 

Penn, William, 13, 20, 22, 23, 25, 31, 35, 

36, 49, 60, 65, 78, 122, 200, 321, 331 
Penn's House, 30, 36, 66 
Pennsylvania Bank, 229 
Pennsylvania Hospital, 43 
Penny Pot House, 123 
Pepper, Dr. William, 172 
Perot, 49 

Perot, Elliston and John, 270 
Perot, T. Morris, 271 
Peters, Judge Richard, 138, 148, 164 
Pe1^'ter Platter Inn, 126 



Philadelphia Contributionship, The, 241 

Physick, Philip Syng, 39 

Ponds, 29, 217 

Population, 21, 23, 29, 52 

Fortius, James 35, 331 

Potts, Jonathan, 165 

Powell, Samuel, 38 

Pratt, Henry, 31 

Presbyterian Fund, 328 

Presbyterians, 30, 73 

Priestly, Joseph, 49 

Printing, 44 

Prisons 34, 43, 79, 

Proud, Robert, 200 

Quakers, 13, 20, 23, SO, 34, 46, 50, 53, 58, 
194, 255, 278, 309, 311, 321, 322, 326 

Radnor Hunt Club, 215 
Raguet, Condy, 263 
Ralston, Robert, 31 
Redman, Dr. John, 180, 181 
Ridgeway, Jacob, 31 
Rittenhouse, David, 136 
Rittenhouse .Square, 108 
Robberies, 33 
Rose Tree Hunt Club, 215 
Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 180 
Rush, Dr. James, 134 

Schoepf, Johann David, 52 

School House, 27 

Sellers, William, 47 

Settlers, Character of, 20, 22, 27, 28, 29, 

30, 35 
Servants, 52 
Shippen, Edward, S 
Shippen, Dr. William, 179 
Smith, Dr. WilUam, 68, 71, 152. 159 
Societies for Relief of Distressed, 326, 327 
Society of Ancient Britons, 303 



INDEX 



Society of Traders, 28 

South Street Theatre, 115 

Southwark, 97 

Speaknian, John, 189 

Speakman, John, Jr., 42 

Stamper, John, 39 

State House, 27, 33, 36, 96, 126, 184, 332 

Stille, Provost, 172 

St. James', Kingsessing, 72 

St. Peter's Chm-ch, 38, 71 

Stocker, John, 39 

Streets, 27 

Swedes, 24, 98 

Swedes' Chm-ch, Old, 72, 144 

Taverns, 28, 81, 43 
Thomas, Gabriel, 29 
Three Crowns Tavern, 126 
Tilghman, Judge, 37 
Tilghman, Tench, 166 
Tilton, Dr. James, 164 
Travelers, 50 
Trinity Church, Oxford, 72 

Union Fire Company, 240 

Wahi, 31, 39, 67 

Walnut Street Theatre, 120 

Warder, Ann, 53 



Warville, J. P. Brissot de, 55 
Washington, George, 32, 38, 45, 47, 71, 93, 

137, 156, 167, 205, 282, 287, 288 
Washington Square, 109 
Water Works, 107 
Waj-ne, Anthony, 160 
Webster, Pelatiah, 46, 203 
Wells and Pumps, 32, 50 
Welsh, 21, 59 
Welsh, John, 31 
West, Benjamin, 67, 70, 217 
Wharton, 31, 32, 38, 40 
\Mielen, Israel, 46 
White, Bishop WilUam, 38, 70, 165 
\^■hitefield, George, 42, 74, 146 
William Penn Charter School, 200 
Willing, Charles, 40 
Willmg, Thomas, 31, 38 
Wilson, James, 41, 163 
Wistar, Dr. Caspar, 46, 295 
Wister, John, 46 
Wister, William Rotch, 223 
Woohnan, John, 321 
Workman's Court, 41 

York Road, 102 

Young America Cricket Club, 225 



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